A project to give youngsters cameras has produced fresh perspectives of the legacy of the world’s worst rail crash.Before the wave, many Sri Lankan children had hardly seen a camera. So, when the world’s media arrived, many were frightened when cameras were pointed at them. Now, they find themselves on the other side of the lens.Juliet Coombe, a travel photographer and magazine editor who has been working as a volunteer in Peraliya since the first week of January, was drawn to the island after finding out that some of her friends had died in the tsunami. Immediately, she felt an urge to help.After weeks of delivering aid, recovering bodies and listening to the children’s stories, Ms Coombe hit upon a plan Give them all cameras. They come to see three battered, brown rusty cars left in Peraliya.
For this is south Asia’s Ground Zero A place where those who have lost can come to contemplate. While the devastation has spread far and wide, this village between Colombo and Galle on the island’s west coast has become its focal point.

On 26 December, as the waters surged ashore, it was here that theQueen of the Sea train was engulfed. Three to four hundred rounds were fired, afterwards the car seats were covered in spent cartridges. The Americans forced the Italians to remain in the car without medical attention for an hourUS: There was a lack of co-ordination between the Italians and the AmericansItaly: The Americans were kept fully informedUS: It was a regrettable accident which will be aggressively investigatedItaly: Ms Sgrena claims it was a deliberate ambush to kill her, as the Italians had paid a ransom, a practice America opposes, and as she had learnt inconvenient facts from her abductors.. Just three carriages are left now. The other five have gone, along with the engine, towed away by Sri Lankan Railways But still, the people come. CONFLICTING VERSIONSThere are some glaring discrepancies in the Italian and American versions of the killing of the agent Nicola Calipari and the wounding of released hostage Giuliana Sgrena and two other Italian secret service agents:The Americans say: the car was travelling at high speedThe Italians say: it was travelling at 40-50kphUS: It approached a checkpoint near the airport at speed when soldiers fired on it to force it to stop as a “last resort”Italy: It had passed three checkpoints without incident and was 700 metres from the airport when fired uponUS: The soldiers used hand signals and bright lights and fired warning shots before hitting the car with shotsItaly: There was no warning. The Americans don’t approve, and so they try to frustrate the negotiations every way they can.”Ms Sgrena, who is recovering in hospital, added that she did not intend to go back to Iraq because “the conditions don’t exist for getting information”.

Her abductors, she said, “don’t want witnesses, and they regard all of us as possible spies”. “Everybody knows that the Americans are opposed to hostage negotiations. So I don’t see why we must exclude the possibility that I was their target. The time and place for the release was settled.Italy is well aware that its habit of paying large sums to secure the release of its nationals is disapproved of by the Americans and British All negotiations are therefore carried on in secret.