Tamil rebels dig mass graves

MULLAITTIVU - Tamil Tiger rebels, hemmed in by a landmined border in Sri Lanka's northeast, appealed for help as they dug mass graves to clear thousands of corpses strewn by the tsunami.

They said nearly 10,000 people had died in areas they control, while almost as many again were missing. The dead represent nearly half of Sri Lanka's overall death toll.

The Tigers' main naval base at Mullaittivu was devastated, as was part of its fleet.

Children accounted for the bulk of victims in nearby fishing villages. All 135 children at an orphanage run by the Tigers were swept away to their deaths.

"We have only found bodies so far," said Colonel Soosai, head of the Tigers' navy arm, the Sea Tigers. "We have not received any aid from the Government yet."

Few buildings on the coast were left standing. Mangled wreckage of trucks, mopeds and fishing boats lay twisted along the shore, and bodies were tangled in fishing nets.

Officials said just 12 of 1500 local fishing boats were still seaworthy. More than 120,000 people in Tiger-held areas had been displaced from their homes, many now housed in makeshift refugee camps.

Elsewhere in Sri Lanka, tidal waves flung a train off its tracks, leaving 1000 passengers dead or missing, the military said.

Rescuers searched the eight carriages, which were little more than twisted metal, and found 802 bodies, military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake said.

The train - named "Samudradevi" meaning Queen of the Sea - was travelling from the capital Colombo to the city of Galle on Sunday when it was hit by the waves.

In Muslim villages in the east of the otherwise Buddhist-dominated island, survivors started to bury the bloated and decomposing bodies. Some, lacking shovels, used big iron forks used for community cooking and their hands to scrape a final resting place for several dozen victims, half of them children.

In Galle - one of the worst-affected areas in the country - officials used a loudspeaker on a fire engine to advise residents to lay the bodies of the dead on roads for collection and burial.

- REUTERS