SRI LANKA: As the official death toll in Sri Lanka climbed towards 19,000, news came through yesterday of a train thrown off its tracks, leaving its 1,000 passengers dead or missing.
Rescuers uncovered thousands of more bodies across the country. Officials said the final toll may reach 25,000.
Mass funerals took place alongside the train track for 204 bodies recovered from the train's eight carriages, which were little more than twisted metal.
The train - called Queen of the Sea - had been travelling from the capital Colombo to the city of Galle, on the southern tip of the island, on Sunday when it was hit by the killer waves.
Buddhist priests held prayers for the dead as the bodies were cremated. For Muslim victims, a mass grave was dug by a bulldozer.
Among those killed was the train driver and his helper. But the two guards, who travel in the last carriage, survived, said a railway official.
He said some passengers also survived, but he did not know how many.
Meanwhile, western tourists seeking refuge in a massive conference hall in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, having escaped the devastating tsunami that killed over 18,000 people on the island, were desperately making plans to return home yesterday.
"I'm going home," shouted Mrs Barbara Whitehead of Gloucester in England ecstatically at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, where she and husband Barry have been sheltering since Sunday.
At least 70 foreign tourists died in the tsunami that devastated the region. In Sri Lanka the overnight death toll climbed by around 6,000 to 18,000 as more bodies were recovered from remote costal regions.
"We are the world's luckiest people to have come out of it alive," Mr Whitehead said.
Along with friends, they endured three successive roaring tidal waves - gargantuan walls of water taller than the surrounding palm trees - that struck their idyllic resort at Barmella 100 miles south-west of Colombo, as they relaxed around breakfast time.
Mr Klaus Himmel and his partner, Ms Claudia Riter from Bavaria in Germany, managed to survive the huge wave at Nikadua in southern Sri Lanka.
"Within seconds of the waves hitting there was nothing left except devastation and destruction," Mr Himmel said.
The tourist relief camp had hundreds of mattresses and pillows on the floor, boxes of canned food and bottled water piled up in corners.
Many people sat around tables laden with beer and food, anxiously waiting for news of their departure.
A few were in their swimming gear, having been left with little else after the disaster.
Some, however, were kitted out either in handouts from fellow tourists or clothing provided by their respective embassies, local travel organisers or non-governmental organisations.
A first aid centre had been set up alongside a cafe, while various airlines assisted the visitors in catching early flights home. The Sri Lankan authorities had waived paperwork normally considered a necessity, as travel documents had been washed away.
"Under the circumstances most formalities are being ignored to ensure that the tourists get home early," a Sri Lankan Airlines executive said.
Despite their horrifying experiences, many tourists plan to return.
"We will be back. We love the country and the people," Mr Whitehead said, a sentiment echoed by fellow tourists gathered at his table.
Sri Lanka is banking on over 2,000 Indian medical workers and planeloads of other foreign relief to help it stave off disease from thousands of decomposing bodies. Incessant rain the entire day hampered rescue operations, adding to the overall health hazard.
Fresh water wells along the country's coastal regions had been badly contaminated with seawater that left a massive trail of destruction on the island, government minister Mr Susil Premajayantha said.
"We are asking mainly for medical supplies from our foreign friends," Mr Premajayantha said. "We need things like water purification tablets and safe drinking water. We also need equipment to clean water wells."
Police in the hardest-hit areas had begun mass burials of unidentified decomposed bodies as the government waived normal legal procedures to dispose of thousands of corpses piling up at rural hospitals.
Groups of volunteers used cooking utensils and even their bare hands to dig graves to dispose off the dead and prevent the outbreak of disease.
"We can't strictly follow the old procedures," said Mr Premajayantha, adding that the authorities were keeping forensic records and carrying out the disposal of the bodies.
"We have about 375,000 families displaced," agriculture minister Mr Anura Dissanayake said. "This means we have a serious challenge to ensure that diseases don't spread in place where we locate these refugees."
Sanitation, he added, was the main concern and the relief agencies were trying to set up enough latrines for the refugees.
Sri Lanka's foreign ministry said there had been a spontaneous outpouring of sympathy for the nation of over 19 million people and the challenge was to ensure a coordinated relief effort to ensure the most vulnerable areas received aid quickly.
France and Britain were amongst several European countries rushing medical supplies, fresh water and paramedics to Sri Lanka and other countries hit by the devastating tsunami.
A French government aircraft left for Colombo with about 100 doctors, rescue specialists and communications experts, along with six tons of equipment, including drugs and a field medical post. Another was following.
Aid was also pouring in to Sri Lanka from Russia, Israel, Japan and Pakistan, as well as the Red Cross, which was sending a plane with medical supplies for 100,000 people to the island republic. - (Additional reporting: AP)