COLOMBO, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed in a collision accident by a train and a car at a level crossing in the town called Negambo in western Sri Lanka on Friday, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said on Friday.

Gunasekara said the two people in the car were hit by a train and died upon admission to a local hospital. The train was heading for Colombo from the town called Chilaw.

Chairman of National Council for Road Safety in Sri Lanka Sisira Kodagoda told Xinhua that there were as many as 24 fatalities reported during the first half of this year in accidents involving trains, and unprotected level crossings had been the main cause for such accidents.

"We have 1410 such unprotected level crossings throughout the country. We are planning to introduce a signal system called the Bell and Light to avert such accidents involving trains in the future," he said.

There was also an awareness program at main railway stations and railway compartments to educate people about the menace and measures to avoid train accidents.