Train to tragedy

Suburbs vulnerable to terrorist activities:

It was ironic and tragic that terrorists were able to blow up a passenger train bound for Panadura for the second time packed with office workers heading home last week.

The Power Set bearing No 763 which left the Maradana railway station around 4.25 p.m. had arrived at the Dehiwela railway station around 5.p.m. Soon after it pulled up again and there was a massive explosion that rocked the railway station. The explosion had occurred inside the fifth carriage around 5.05 p.m.

According to eye witnesses several screaming and wailing passengers were seen jumping out of the train and running for cover along the railway track. An ANCL employee Sumathipala who travelled in the second carriage of the train miraculously escaped unhurt with several other passengers.

He recalled the panic following the bomb blast. Sumathipala is a seasoned train traveller who commutes to work daily from Ratmalana where he resides.

Last Monday he finished work early and took the Panadura bound train from the Fort railway station. He says several passengers boarded the train from Slave Island and from the Bambalapitiya railway stations.

He says when the train reached Dehiwela around 60 passengers had stormed into the train while some had disembarked. When the train pulled up again there was a shattering explosion which rocked his compartment. Shaken by the explosion he had alighted from the train along with others quite dazed. Not realising what had happened he walked towards the fifth carriage which was still smouldering and covered with black smoke.

He saw the compartment’s roof been ripped off due to the powerful blast. When the smoke cleared up Sumathipala had seen strewn bodies lying inside the carriage. He along with others had helped to retrieve the injured and carry them to the two buses waiting outside to be taken to the Kalubowila Hospital.

He says he found his neighbour inside the ill fated compartment with a minor injury on his head. He helped him to the bus to be whisked away to the hospital.

Meanwhile three wheeler drivers, the police and army personnel who had arrived at the scene helped to despatch the injured and the dead to the Kalubowila hospital. This was the second bloodbath staged by terrorists at the Dehiwela railway station to massacre innocent civilians and cause mayhem and serious injuries to more than 73 people. The dead included six women and two males.

According Police Spokesman SSP Ranjith Gunesekera 13 persons had been taken in for questioning in connection with the bomb explosion. Of the 13 persons 5 persons were issued with Detention Orders to be grilled further while 6 persons will be produced in courts. Two person have been released after being questioned.

SSP Gunesekera said the type and the quantity of explosives used in the blast is not being determined yet. “The Government Analyst is conducting tests to arrive at a conclusion and we are expecting his report shortly to proceed with further inquiries.”

The first deadly attack was launched on 24th July in 1976 around 6.10. p.m. when two claymore bombs planted inside a Galle bound train exploded killing 70 persons and injuring more than 450 passengers. It was one of the worst disasters that happened inside a passenger train a decade ago. The blast ripped through compartments causing severe damage to the train.

Scores of young people travelling in the train lost their lives on that fateful day. Sudeepa Purnajith, an enterprising young graphic artist of the ANCL also became a victim in that blast. He had travelled in that ill fated train that day with his girl friend whom he was going to wed shortly.

As far as last weeks explosion was concerned nobody seems to have any clue why Dehiwela railway station was chosen for its second attack. Obviously the terrorist cadres are aware that hundreds of passengers pass through the Dehiwela railway station every day.

Checking them for explosives is daunting task for railway men during rush hours. The plausible reason why they attacked a train full of office workers was because it was easiest thing to do due to security lapses.

A few months ago a bomb exploded inside Fort railway station killing eight baseball players of the D.S. Senanayake college and its coach. How on earth did they smuggle explosives into the Fort railway station.

Meanwhile several police teams are working on last weeks explosion. It has not being revealed whether the deadly bomb was smuggled into the train at the Dehiwela railway station or from any other station by some one who left the train before it exploded. According to witnesses some persons had heard the lighting of fire crackers just before the train arrived at Dehiwela.

Was this an indication to signal for some one to launch an attack on the train? Investigators have to probe further why a fire cracker was lit and the motive in doing so.

Meanwhile suburban towns of Colombo have become vulnerable to terrorist activities during the last two years.

It may be due to security being tightened in the Colombo city. Suburbs have become a haven for terrorist to operate who connive with local people.

A number of suicide kits and large hauls of explosives have been found in the Wattala and Negombo areas in the recent past.

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