Pregnant tourist falls in the rush to board train at Fort station

A pregnant British tourist had a close call on Friday morning when she fell onto the platform trying to board a train bound for Badulla at the Fort Railway station.

Station superintendent Sarath Pathirana said the woman and her male companion, also British, had bought two third class compartment tickets not knowing that they could buy tickets and reserve seats. Their destination was Kandy.

Eye witnesses said the incident occurred when the woman fainted having got caught in the crush of passengers who were pushing their way trying to board the Badulla bound Podi-Menike

Following the incident Mr.Pathirana took the couple to his room and issued them tickets in a compartment with reserved seats.

While the tourists were thankful for the kindness showed by the authorities, they said that they were unaware that they could reserve seats.

A Scandinavian tourist who was at the station said she too was unaware of reserved and unreserved seats and said there should be a proper mechanism for tourists to be informed about the train ticketing practices in Sri Lanka.

"Had I known that I could have bought a ticket for a reserved seat I would not have chosen to travel standing all the way to Kandy," she said.