2004 tragedy still haunts Sri Lanka train guard

PERALIYA, Sri Lanka: Head guard Wanigaratne Karunatilleke was one of the few people to survive when a wall of water slammed into the Ocean Queen train on Sri Lanka’s south coast a decade ago, killing around 1,000 people.
On Friday the 58-year-old, who is still haunted by memories of the passengers he could not save, flagged off the train for a special journey to commemorate the victims of the Asian tsunami, Sri Lanka’s worst ever disaster.
“I am sad so many of my passengers died that day,” he told AFP.
“But I am happy we are remembering the victims and holding religious services.”
The Ocean Queen Express was rebuilt after the tsunami and has become a symbol of the disaster in Sri Lanka and was at the center of somber commemorations for the country’s 31,000 victims on Friday.
Survivors and relatives of the dead boarded the train early Friday morning in Colombo and headed to Peraliya, the exact spot around 90 km south of Colombo where it was ripped from the tracks.
Mourners laid flowers and lit incense at a memorial for some 1,270 people buried in mass graves on Peraliya beach.
Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim ceremonies were held in Peraliya to commemorate victims across the country.
Remembrance services were held around Sri Lanka on Friday, while President Mahinda Rajapaksa observed his traditional two minutes’ silence.
Damayanthi Abeywardene was on the train, which runs from Colombo to Matara, in 2004 with her two daughters, then aged 16 and 19.
She was there to give thanks for their survival and remember those who were less fortunate.
“No one should have to see what we saw. The struggle of people trying to stay alive... The hundreds of corpses,” the retired school teacher said, breaking down in mid-speech.