(COLOMBO) – At least 160 persons have been killed in Sri Lanka train accidents during the first 10 months of this year and another 203 have sustained injuries, many life-threatening, a senior most official said on Wednesday.
Most of Those killed are motorists, jay walkers, suicides cases, and accidents at unprotected level crossings, General Manager, Sri Lanka Railway N.J. Indipolage said.
He added that in addition to that there has also been a steep increase in train derailments reported from across the island-nation with 100 such incidents documented from the start of this year.
Some 109 train derailments were reported just within the first eight months of this year, Indipolage said.
Indipolage attributed the incidents of derailments to shortcomings in the repair activities and the defects in train carriages.
He said that careless motorists, jay walkers and suicides made up the bulk of the fatalities.
