9 year-old child fatally hit by train at Railway Crossing

By Bimal Shyaman Jayasinghe  
A nine-year-old child, identified as M.R. Rantharu, who was a fourth-grade student at Moratuwa Jana Jaya School and resided at Clovius Mawatha, Moratuwa, was hit and killed by a train while riding a bicycle near the Murawatta railway crossing in Moratuwa. According to the police, the incident occurred when the child rode his bicycle from New Galle Road towards the closed gates of the railway crossing as a train was approaching.   
The child attempted to cross the railway tracks before the gates were reopened, resulting in a collision with a train traveling from Beliatta to Kandy on a parallel track.   
The impact had thrown the child approximately 13 meters away from the crossing.