Close X
Wednesday, November 6, 2024
ADVT 
India

32 Killed In India As Varanasi-Bound Train Derails

Darpan News Desk IANS, 20 Mar, 2015 12:53 PM
    At least 32 people were killed when the engine and three coaches of a passenger train derailed near Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh after the driver overshot a signal on Friday.
     
    Northern Railway spokesman Neeraj Sharma said in New Delhi that nearly 50 people were warded in hospitals. Doctors in Lucknow said many of them were in critical condition. Sharma put the death toll at 32.
     
    The horrific accident took place at Bachharwan railway station near Rae Bareli when the Dehradun-Varanasi Janata Express, proceeding to Varanasi, jumped the tracks shortly after 9 a.m.
     
    The train was to halt at Bachharwan, a small station. But the driver didn't stop. When he realized the folly and applied the emergency brakes, the engine and the coaches went off the tracks, officials said.
     
    An official statement said the train hit a sand bump, leading to the derailment.
     
    One of the three coaches which derailed was a sleeper class. The other two were general coaches. All were packed with commuters.
     
    As the badly injured passengers screamed in pain, the first to reach the site were people from nearby villages.
     
    But two of the coaches were so mangled that rescue work could not take place until officials arrived with gas cutters to cut through the steel to take out the dead and the still living. 
     
    When journalists too reached the place, furious locals raised slogans against the state and railway authorities, saying official rescuers took a long time to start pulling out the bleeding passengers. 
     
    Some bodies were found under the coaches, apparently thrown off the train due to the impact of the crash. Some bodies were dismembered.
     
    Many passengers suffered serious injuries, primarily in the head. Others suffered concussions, broken limbs and deep wounds. Some escaped with cuts and bruises.
     
    One doctor said at least a dozen of those admitted to hospitals in Lucknow were battling for life.
     
    Some passengers were treated medically in Rae Bareli. The more serious cases were rushed to the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow.
     
    "The death toll could go up," an official told IANS, adding that 12 bodies remained unclaimed until late in the evening. 
     
    Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was visiting Lucknow, met some of the injured in hospital.
     
    President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in whose Lok Sabha constituency the accident took place, mourned the loss of lives.
     
    Northern Railway officials said that prima facie the train driver seemed to be at fault.
     
    "The train was to stop at the Bachharwan station but it did not. When he realized this, the driver applied the emergency brakes, leading to the derailment," one official said. 
     
    The railways ordered a probe into the accident. 
     
    The railway ministry announced a compensation of Rs.2 lakh to families of each of the dead, Rs.50,000 to the seriously injured and Rs.20,000 to those who suffered minor injuries. 
     
    The Uttar Pradesh government announced similar compensation. 
     
    The accident disrupted train services on the important New Delhi-Lucknow-Varanasi sector.
     
    A special relief train was rushed from Lucknow. Officials said six doctors and 20 ambulances were also sent to the accident site.
     
    Buses were also despatched to the place to ferry the stranded passengers.
     
    As news of the accident reached Lucknow, around 100 beds were reserved in the city's hospitals to cater to the injured, officials told IANS.
     
    Twenty-two people were killed when a passenger train rammed into a stationary train in Sant Kabir Nagar district, also in Uttar Pradesh, on May 26, 2014. 

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Money Laundering: Chandigarh Lawyers' Driver, Clerks Swiped Crores Of Rupees

    Money Laundering: Chandigarh Lawyers' Driver, Clerks Swiped Crores Of Rupees
    The driver alone had transactions of over Rs.22 crore in his accounts. The staff, and the lawyer himself, are now being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for alleged money laundering after officials seized documents of properties and accounts worth over Rs.500 crore - the biggest money laundering scam to have hit this city.

    Money Laundering: Chandigarh Lawyers' Driver, Clerks Swiped Crores Of Rupees

    Foreigners Living In India Laud 'Clean India' Drive

    Foreigners Living In India Laud 'Clean India' Drive
    Foreigners who came to India for work or love and decided to make the country their home are upbeat about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious "Clean India" campaign. They, however, cautioned that the execution of the mission remains a "big challenge".

    Foreigners Living In India Laud 'Clean India' Drive

    Obama Arrives In India On January 25, Talks To See 'Substantive Outcomes'

    Obama Arrives In India On January 25,  Talks To See 'Substantive Outcomes'
    Obama, who is arriving on the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who he has called a "man of action", would arrive on Air Force One at 10 a.m. to a flurry of activities, which would culminate in a visit to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

    Obama Arrives In India On January 25, Talks To See 'Substantive Outcomes'

    Gangster Sukhbir Singh Kahlwan Shot Dead By Rival Gang In Punjab Police Custody, Officials Shifted

    Gangster Sukhbir Singh Kahlwan Shot Dead By Rival Gang In Punjab Police Custody, Officials Shifted
    The day-light gunning down of a notorious gangster by a rival gang while he was being escorted by a Punjab Police team in the state's Phagwara town, has led to disciplinary action against senior police officials.

    Gangster Sukhbir Singh Kahlwan Shot Dead By Rival Gang In Punjab Police Custody, Officials Shifted

    BJP Is Exactly Opposite To What Bedi Stands For: Arvind Kejriwal

    BJP Is Exactly Opposite To What Bedi Stands For: Arvind Kejriwal
    AAP leader and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has said he sees an inherent contradiction between what Kiran Bedi, BJP's presumptive chief ministerial candidate, was known to have stood for and the values and principles of the party she now represents.

    BJP Is Exactly Opposite To What Bedi Stands For: Arvind Kejriwal

    Indian Designers Picture Michelle Obama In A Sari

    Indian Designers Picture Michelle Obama In A Sari
    A navy blue knee-length dress, an off-shoulder gown or a floral dress - the First Lady of the US has worn them all. But on her forthcoming visit to India, desi designers wish she drapes different styles of the six-yard wonder - whether chiffons or traditional Benarasi weaves.

    Indian Designers Picture Michelle Obama In A Sari