Yesterday, after three days of searching, he finally found her body, one of hundreds so far pulled from the ruins of the 10-car train that was swept off the tracks during Sunday's earthquake-driven tsunami.

"My only daughter," Wejetunge said sadly as her corpse lay on the ground. Covered to the knees by a white sheet, only her bare feet and the embroidered edges of her faded blue jeans were visible. Wejetunge described a vibrant young woman who was looking forward to spending the New Year's holiday with a friend in the southern beach town of Galle.

In a country that lost more than 22,000 people in this week's calamity, few towns seem to have suffered as much as Telwatta, a one-time idyllic fishing village about 55 miles south of Colombo. Not only did the train get washed off its tracks here, leaving carriages filled with corpses strewn across the landscape, but virtually every house appears to have been destroyed or irrevocably damaged. Walking among the dazed survivors, it is hard to find anyone who hasn't lost someone.

W.T. Prema Ranjith lost the friend he had gone down to the beach to meet Sunday. "I grabbed a tree branch when the water came, but the branch broke and took me away. I never saw what happened to my friend," he said.

So powerful was the stench of death that everyone — even the children — clasped handkerchiefs to their noses as they meandered through the ruins. Yesterday, beneath the tall palm trees lining the once-welcoming beach, yet another mass grave was being filled with unidentified bodies from the train wreck, the second such grave for those victims in two days. Police were rushing to bury the bodies, fearing disease could begin to spread.

Onlookers peered into the hole and shook their heads to indicate they didn't see anyone they recognized.

"The sea gives so many things, but in this moment it took everything away," said S.M. Udaya, 28, who was clearing sodden debris from the remains of his family's lemon-yellow house, about 200 feet from the nearest wrecked train car. It's the house he has always lived in and the one his 75-year-old father built from money earned as a fisherman. When the waves rushed in, Udaya was safe in another village, farther from the sea.

Relatives told Udaya his mother ran toward higher ground. His father grabbed the hand of Udaya's sister, Champa, 35, and fled around the back of the house, but the current was too strong. He lost his grip, and Champa disappeared. So did Udaya's brother, Adith, 33, who was on a bus on the beachfront highway.