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| Sunday, 1 May 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Alawwa bus-train tragedy: A criminal act by Jayampathy Jayasinghe and Senerath Pushpananda The sleepy town of Allawwa was awakened suddenly, last Wednesday, when a Kandy bound intercity train from Colombo ploughed into a passenger bus travelling from Galkiriyagama, Anuradhapura at the Yangalmodera railway crossing around 8.20-8.30 am., killing 37 people and injuring more than 40 passengers in the bus.
The impact was so heavy that the bus got entangled in the train and was dragged nearly 50-meters along the track before the train came to a grinding halt, eye witnesses said. The dead include 23 men, 9 women, and a child of 3 years. Pieces of human flesh were strewn along the rail track with limbs and brain matter scattered all over. At the time of writing the story 25 persons had been identified, Polgahawela Police said.
However by Wednesday all bodies were transferred to the Kurunegala hospital for identification and for holding postmortem examinations. Most victims were office workers and those returning to Colombo after spending their vacation in their native villages. The incident captured the public imagination as the country was still reeling after the tsunami tragedy which claimed more than 40,000 lives. It also raised the issue of commuter safety and the absolute disregard private bus operators have for rules and regulations. The latest and by far the worst accident, in a series of accidents is seen as criminal negligence, that needlessly endangered the lives of many.
The gates had been closed as the Colombo bound intercity train was due around 8.15 a.m. or so. But when the Colombo bound bus arrived at the crossing, the driver and the conductor did not have the patience to wait until the train passed. Instead, the conductor had alighted from the bus and signalled the driver to creep thorough the gap between the gates, despite repeated protests from a railway employee at the gates. Halfway through they had noticed the on-coming intercity train heading straight at them at full speed, and intent on saving their lives, both the driver and the conductor, had run away leaving the passengers to their horrific fate. According to the Chief Incumbent of the Parileiya Viharaya, Venerable Avan Ariyadamma Thera, an eye witness, the ill fated bus came to a halt near the railway gate, having overtaken all vehicles parked behind the railway crossing at Yangalmodera. The conductor had then alighted from the bus walked towards the railway gate and guided the driver between the railway gates. Ariydahamma thero had been strolling in the temple premises at the time of the accident. According to the Polgahawela police, the fire on the bus was caused by damage to the diesel tank and the resultant spewing of gasoline inside the bus. The diesel tank was found abandoned about 10 metres away from the spot. Several pairs of slippers, books and umbrellas of the passengers were found in the locomotive. Police say that many in the bus died as a result of it being gutted. The villagers got together and doused the fire by pouring water. They also helped to despatch the injured to hospital in passing by vehicles. H. A. Sirisena the engine driver told journalists that this was the worst accident that happened in his career. The train had been travelling at a speed of about 20 kilometres per hour when he noticed the bus cutting across the railway track. Unable to stop immediately all he could do was watch in horror as the train ploughed through the bus. "I thought to myself about the plight of innocent people being dragged away. But there was nothing I could do. I managed to stop the train after it travelled a distance of 300 meters," he said. Tenisha Subasinghe who resides close to the railway crossing said that she was in her compound when she heard a loud noise. She ran towards the direction of the sound and found a bus engulfed in a huge ball of black smoke, being pushed by the locomotive. "At the time of the accident, several people were near our boutique waiting to board buses. But they all ran away in different directions through panic. "Through fear I too ran away with our family members. Later the villagers re-grouped themselves and doused the fire." She said, adding that at least one or two accidents occur every year at Yangalmodera railway crossing. She said that over the years she had witnessed around 20 such accidents but identified this as the most frightful accident she had seen. "It was a gruesome sight to see bodies of several passengers being piled up", she said. A. K. Sanath Padmasiri said the bus was engulfed in fire when he arrived at the scene. He, along with others poured water and extinguished the fire and then despatched the injured to the hospital. Those who witnessed the incident were in a state of shock. "It was the high priest who entered the bus and pulled out the injured. With the help of others we despatched the injured and the dead to hospitals," he said. The Railway Signal Assistant at Yangalmodera M.A. Chandradasa said he saw the bus conductor who got down from the bus, and directed the driver to proceed ahead. "We shouted at him and told him not to take in the bus. The bus driver without paying any heed to road rules and regulation, drove the bus across the rail road. The train knocked the bus as the speed of the bus dropped while crossing. A large number of office workers were in the bus," he said. One of the victims of the train tragedy is OIC Traffic, Galagedera Police, Dharmasiri Amarawanse, who boarded the ill fated bus at Dambulla. A resident of Kurunegala and a father of three children, he was on his way to Colombo to attend to some official work, when tragedy struck. Meanwhile both the bus driver and the conductor who fled the scene after the accident were arrested by the police. They were found at a local hospital. IGP, Chandra Fernando said that charges will be filed against both the bus driver and the conductor for manslaughter and criminal negligence. Chairman of the National Transport Commission Amal Kumarage said he had called for an immediate report regarding the train accident. He said an amendment has been proposed to the National Transport Act some time back. Coincidentally a train derailment in Japan last week also killed over 100 passengers and injured more than 349 people. DIG Traffic Administration and Road Safety Gamini De silva said that every effort has been made to minimise road accidents during the past few years. Officers from the Traffic Headquarters had detected 7112 traffic related offences in Kurenegala, Anuradhapura districts in the year 2004.
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| Produced by Lake House |
Rated as one of the worst accidents in recent times, the mangled wreckage
of the bus was seen on the track with its rear section ripped away after the
collision. Bits and pieces of the bus were also seen along the railway.
Parts of the bus were even found inside the carriages. The bus burst into
flames due to the heavy impact, killing as many as possible, police said.
The injured were rushed to Allawwa, Warakapola, Polgahawela and
Kurunegala and Kandy and National Hospital Colombo. Two of the injured died
at the National Hospital on Thursday night, while the death toll is expected
to rise further within the next few days. It is not known as to how many
passengers in the train sustained injuries. 
According to Police Inspector P.D.R. Kulatunga, both the bus driver and
the conductor are responsible for the criminal act, especially since both
gates at the Yangalmodera crossing were closed at the time of the tragedy.
