Dozens Dead as Sri Lanka Train Hits Bus

27/04/2005| IslamWeb

More than 50 bus passengers were feared killed and about 40 injured when a train rammed into the crowded vehicle at a level-crossing in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, crushing it and setting it on fire, officials said.

None of the passengers and crew on the morning train were hurt, a railway official said, but it was one of the island's worst accidents in years.

"The signal was green and the level-crossing gates were closed," H.A. Sirisena, driver of the train, told Reuters at the site of the crash in central Sri Lanka.

"Then I saw the bus trying to cross ... and the next thing I know was the engine hitting the rear of the bus."

"After the first impact, the bus spun around and hit the train again. I have been in this job for 41 years and this is the first time something like this has happened," said the balding 59-year-old man, who had tears in his eyes.

The bus, which was dragged for about 300 yards on the track after the collision, lay in a mangled heap of metal, with its middle torn open.

Luggage, glass and clothes of children were strewn on the track and on the embankment, a few meters away from a road running parallel to the track in the town.

Some clothes were also stuck to the rail engine whose front was badly dented and some parts twisted. Hundreds of people had gathered at the spot.

"As soon as the train came to a halt I got off and ran in the direction of the wreckage," said K. Navaratne, a passenger from Colombo, adding that he was seated by a window and saw the collision and the bus catching fire soon after.

"I saw body parts strewn along the track and more bodies were stuck in the bus and people were screaming for help. The driver of the bus should be shot," he said.

BUS DRIVER BLAMED

Police said the bus caught fire under the impact and rescue teams had removed 33 bodies so far. A police spokeswoman said earlier that nearly 60 were feared dead when the train hit the packed bus carrying many people to work.

The crash took place around 8:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday) at a level-crossing in Polgahawela town, about 40 miles northeast of the capital.

Authorities blamed the crash on what they said was the negligence of the bus driver.

The bus was apparently trying to make its way past the barriers and cross the tracks when it was hit by the train, Gunapala Vitanage, chief train controller in Colombo, said.

Barriers at level-crossings in Sri Lanka stop road traffic on one lane and the opposite lane stays open, allowing many motorists to wind their way around them.

The train was bound for the hill capital Kandy from Colombo while the bus was headed toward Colombo.

The federal government said it was saddened by the tragedy and was focusing on helping the victims.

The loss-making, state-run Sri Lanka Railways operates an antiquated network built largely during British colonial rule and has seen little investment since the island gained independence in 1948.

The country's road and rail systems, like most of the rest of its infrastructure, were further neglected during two decades of civil war since the early 1980s when Tamil Tiger rebels launched a revolt for a separate ethnic homeland. (Additional reporting by Chamintha Thilakarathna)

PHOTO CAPTION

Sri Lankan man stares at the wreck of a passenger bus which collided with an express train in Polgahawela, central Sri Lanka April 27, 2005. (Reuters)