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35 die in train accidents in 36 days
View(s):In the first 36 days of this year, at least 35 people have been killed in accidents involving trains, a senior Railways officials said.
Railway Protection Force Superintendent Anura Premaratne said most of the tragedies could have been avoided if the victims had obeyed traffic rules or heeded advice.
Citing the recent train–threewheeler accident at Liyanagemulla in Seeduwa, he said motorists should be extra careful when they approach railway crossings whether they are protected or unprotected.Two people died and two were seriously injured when the threeweeler collided with the train at the railway crossings, though the gates had been closed.
Apart from not obeying road regulations, another major factor that contributes to accidents involving trains is the illegal use of railway tracks by occupants of unauthorised houses along the track, he said.The superintendent’s remarks were echoed by the coroner who held the inquiry into last week’s fatal train accident at Angulana.
In this tragedy, four train passengers who were travelling on the footboard were killed when they were hit by a lorry. The lorry had reversed towards the track to make room for a funeral procession. Gayan Bandara, a brother of Angulana train accident victim Susantha Dhammika, told coroner Pavindra Kotugada that his brother was returning home to visit his wife in hospital where she had given birth to a baby.
The widow of Karunarathnaralalage Ravingne Udayana who was killed in the accident told the coroner that her husband worked at Sri Lanka Railways and they lived in a Railways housing scheme.
The lorry driver, M Padamasiri Perera, said, “I was taking meals to a funeral house. As I approach the house, I saw the cortege leaving the house. I reversed the lorry and stood up as a mark of respect to the dead person. Suddenly I felt that something hit the rear of my lorry. I later realised that my reversing was the cause of the accident.”
The coroner observed that many accidents had happened in areas where people lived along the railway tracks.
He postponed the verdict until he recorded the evidence of the train driver.