A sum of Rs. 500,000 will be given to the family of the youth who died after falling from the roof of a train on Tuesday (12 Sep.), as per a decision made by the Sri Lanka Railways Department.
This was confirmed by Minister of Transport Bandula Gunawardena on Wednesday (13 Sep.).
An 18-year-old youth fell to his death last morning, while travelling on the roof of a train crammed with passengers, plying from Kandy to Colombo.
The youth had fallen off the train roof after knocking against the top of the Horape railway station, and had reportedly died on the spot.
Later that evening, another individual travelling on a crowded train running from Colombo to Rambukkana was also reportedly injured, after falling from the compartment at Bulugahagoda.
He was subsequently rushed to the hospoital for immediate medical attention.
Commuters were seen train surfing due to overcrowding while several others were left stranded at railway stations after the Locomotive Operating Engineers’ Union launched a trade union strike on midnight Monday (11 Sep.), over multiple key demands.
