1,000 people die as wave engulfs train

AT LEAST 1,000 people on board a Sri Lankan train perished when waves swept the carriages off the track in one of the biggest losses of life from the natural disaster that struck from Indonesia to Africa.

Police said the train - named Queen of the Sea - had stopped on its coastal journey from the capital Colombo just before it was struck by water on Sunday morning - two-and-a-half hours after the quake unleashed its killer waves.

Many of the dead were villagers in the area who tried to escape the waves by climbing onto the top of the train with the help of the passengers. Yesterday, the eight rust-coloured carriages lay in deep pools of water amid debris and fallen palm trees. The force of the waves had torn the wheels off some, and the train tracks twisted like a loop on a roller coaster.

Most bodies had been removed, but about 15 decomposing corpses were visible. Baggage from the train was strewn along the tracks, and some of the clothing and other items looked new, possibly New Year’s gifts for family or friends. A nearby school had been heavily damaged, and battered children’s bicycles and other toys lay around.

The bodies of about 150 people, many of them victims of the train disaster, were buried in a mass grave with Buddhist monks performing traditional funeral rites. They chanted and poured water on the grave to symbolise the giving of merits of the living to the dead.

Venerable Baddegama Samitha, a Buddhist monk and former MP who presided over the ritual, said he realised some of the dead were of other faiths, and a moment’s silence was held to honour them. “This was the only thing we could do,” he said. “It was a desperate solution. The bodies were rotting. We gave them a decent burial.”

Citing witnesses, he said people were trapped in the train after waves washed it off the tracks, about 200 yards from the shore, and into palm trees.

He said authorities took fingerprints of the dead so that they could be identified later if possible.

“The people in the village ran toward the train and climbed on top of it,” he said. “Then the water level went down. Ten minutes later, it came back.”

The train had left Colombo and was struck 15 miles from its destination - Galle, on the southern tip of the island. The driver of the train is said to have survived.

It was unclear how many other people on the train survived. Police and local residents said one survivor was a woman who lost three children when the carriages were flooded. She sought refuge in a Buddhist temple before leaving the area.