3-storey high wall of water flips train, twists track - DEC 30, 2004

pic SRI LANKA THE train, known as the Queen of the Sea, chugged slowly up the palm-fringed coast of eastern Sri Lanka, carrying hundreds from the capital Colombo who were visiting relatives or enjoying a day at the resorts in Galle. -- AP The train had nearly reached its destination at 9.30am on Sunday when a three storey-high wall of water enveloped it and twisted the railroad tracks into ribbons of metal. And, according to the Washington Post, another train may also have been swept away by the tsunami. The two train incidents stand out as the largest single loss of life on an island that counts at least 18,700 dead. About 1,500 passengers are estimated to have perished, with at least 802 bodies recovered from the Queen. CLIMBED ONTO TRAIN Many of the dead were local villagers trying to escape rising waters by climbing on top of the trains, with the help of the passengers. Police superintendent B P B Ayupala said: 'The people in the village ran toward the train and climbed on top of it. 'Then, the water level went down. Ten minutes later, it came back.' On Tuesday, all that was left of the Queen were eight rust-coloured cars that lay in deep pools of water amid a ravaged grove of palm trees. The force of the waves had torn the wheels off some cars, while some carriages were flung 1km away from the tracks. Baggage was strewn along the tracks - some of the clothing and other items looked new, possibly New Year's gifts for family or friends. One thousand tickets were sold when the train started from Colombo at 7.30am that morning but nobody knows how many people were actually on the train when it was hit. No-one came to claim 204 of the bodies, so they were buried in a mass grave on Tuesday, with Buddhist monks performing traditional funeral rites. Venerable Baddegama Samitha, a Buddhist monk and former parliamentarian who presided over the ritual, said he realised some of the dead were of other faiths - the region has a large Muslim community - and a moment's silence was held to honor 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.' More bodies could be buried beneath the compartments. Authorities took fingerprints of the dead so that they could be identified later if possible. At a nearby police station, officers laid out about 100 identification and credit cards, as well as drivers' licences and bank books found at the train site. 'The police told us to come and have a look at this collection of ID cards,' said Mr Premasiri Jayasinghe, but he found no sign of the three relatives he lost. It was also unclear how many people survived the train disaster. Mr Ayupala said the train driver lived. Another survivor was a woman who lost three children when the carriages were flooded. For the people of Telwatta, burying the train's dead was part of an attempt to bring back order. The one-lane road through the area was thronged with traffic jams as trucks tried to bring in aid. They were slowed by funeral processions and residents carrying away rubble from what had once been their homes. - AP. 3-storey high wall of water flips train, twists track - DEC 30, 2004: "Day of the KILLER WAVE