An initial tsunami wave halted the overcrowded train, prompting local residents and fleeing beachgoers to climb onto and inside the carriages for safety. A towering second wave—estimated between 7 to 12 meters high—slammed into the area, lifting the heavily loaded carriages and hurling them violently into nearby houses and trees. With doors jammed shut in panic and rising waters instantly flooding the compartments, only about 150 survivors managed to escape the wreckage.
2004 Sri Lanka tsunami train wreck
On 26 December 2004, a crowded passenger train (#50 Matara Express) was destroyed on a coastal railway in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka.
Date
26 December 2004
Location
Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka
Lives lost
900 to 1,700 deaths.
Runtime
32 min
Sources and further reading
Every episode is built from the public record. These are the documents and accounts this one drew on.
| Source | Type | Published by | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia (opens in new tab)Wikipedia | Website | Wikipedia |
More episodes
Natural
2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake And Tsunami
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was a catastrophic natural disaster triggered by a magnitude 9.1 undersea earthquake on December 26, 2004, off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Lives lost
227,898
Date
Dec 2004
Location
150 miles from the coast of Sumatra Island
Runtime
104 min
