POLGAHAWELA, Sri Lanka - An intercity passenger train collided with a bus that tried to dash through a railroad crossing in northwestern Sri Lanka today, killing 35 people, officials said.

The passenger bus, apparently racing another bus, slipped past a warning gate and tried to cross a railroad track at Polgahawela, a small suburban town surrounded by rice and coconut farming villages some 50 miles northeast of Colombo, the capital.

Hospital and police officials said 35 people died. Police at first had reported 50 deaths, based on reports filed by police at the scene. "Some of the unconscious people were counted as dead," said police spokesman, Rienzie Perera, correcting the death toll.

The bus was reduced to a mangled heap of metal after it caught fire. There were opened suitcases with passengers' clothes strewn on the track and on the sides.

Perera said 43 people were injured, 30 of them seriously. Some of the wounded were brought to National Hospital in Colombo, he said.

The National Hospital said nine of the wounded, including a 4-year-old girl, were in critical condition.

All the victims were aboard the bus, which was dragged by the train for about 100 yards after the collision.

By The Associated Press