POLGAHAWELA, Sri Lanka, April 27 -- A passenger train rammed into a bus that tried to race through a railroad crossing Wednesday, killing at least 35 people and injuring 60 others. Witnesses said bus passengers, some of them on fire, jumped out of windows after the crash.
All of the dead and injured were aboard the bus, which the train dragged for about 100 yards before the bus burst into flames and ended up a mangled heap of metal.
The private passenger bus was apparently racing another bus when it zipped past a warning gate and tried to cross a railroad track at Polgahawela, a small town about 50 miles northeast of the capital, Colombo.
A railway employee, E.M. Jayaratna, said the automatic warning gate had closed as the train was approaching.
The driver and conductor of the bus were arrested Wednesday after authorities found them at a local hospital. Police were guarding them from angry survivors.
