The 2004 Sri Lanka tsunami train wreck is the largest single rail disaster in world history by death toll, with 1,000 fatalities or more.

It occurred when a crowded passenger train (No 50, Matara Express) was destroyed on a coastal railway in Sri Lanka by a tsunami that followed the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

[1][2] The train was pulled by locomotive #591 Manitoba, a Sri Lanka Railways class M2a built in 1956 by General Motors Diesel of Canada as a model G12.

[1][5] Due to the huge scale of the tsunami disaster, local authorities were unable to cope with the devastation, and emergency services and the military were so overwhelmed that immediate rescue was not possible.

In fact, the Sri Lankan authorities had no idea where the train was for several hours until it was spotted by an army helicopter around 4 p.m.[citation needed] The local emergency services were destroyed, and it was a long time before help arrived.

The first anniversary ceremonies were held in the rebuilt town alongside the repaired railway, which still operates a Colombo-to-Galle service, employing the same guard, W. Karunatilaka, who was on the train and survived the disaster.

The rebuilt locomotive and carriages returned to Peraliya on 26 December 2008, and every year since, to take part in a religious ceremony and a memorial, held to remember those who lost their lives.