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Boutique owner near level crossing recounts tragedy
View(s):Sounded just like a bomb going off in those days:Somalatha
There had been a number of accidents even after the train rammed into the bus in 2005 – the most horrific accident at this spot.
Mrs. A.K.Somalatha who owns a tea boutique near the Yaangalmodara level crossing, told the Sunday Times she wondered if road users ever learnt a lesson, recalling the memories of the worst bus-train tragedy.
Yaangalmodara railway crossing. A train coming from Colombo passing the sharp curve at the level crossing. The bend makes it difficult for road users from the direction of Polgahawela to see a train approaching from the direction of Colombo. Note:The electronic gate was out of order and the barrier fully raised as a train approaches, when this picture was taken.
A train hit a van killing three people on the spot and a motor cycle rider was killed she said recalling some of other tragedies that happened afterwards.
“Fortunately none had been as worse as the 2005 incident, especially as bus drivers have been careful not make the same mistake,” she added.
“I still remember the sound as the train hit the bus sounding just like a bomb going off in those days,” she said adding that she came out of her boutique to see the wrecked bus which was dragged 30-40 metres away by the train, catching fire.
“The people inside the bus were screaming. I was at a loss not knowing what to do,” she recalled as if it had happened recently.
But the people gathered and she helped them by fetching water from the nearby well to douse the fire before they could take the trapped passengers out of the bus. “I also helped them to get the wounded out, but I dared not touch the corpses,” she confessed.
A.K. Somalatha
They had managed to send all the people to hospitals shortly, and thereafter, she had offered tea to the officials who visited the scene.
E.M. Jayaratne, the railway technician who was near the rail gate on that fateful day said the gate works electronically without intervention and the barrier comes down one minute before the train reaches the crossing.
“I shouted at the bus driver not to go through but he just ignored my plea,” he said. He said that when the automatic barrier came down halting road traffic, two persons got down from the bus and had signalled the driver to proceed, but no sooner the bus tried to cross the railway line, the train hit the bus.
A memorial built at the spot by the Road Development Authority of the Ministry of Highways
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