Guwahati-Puri Express derails: Explosion on tracks 80km from Guwahati

TNN | Jul 11, 2011, 01.50am IST

Workers and volunteers rescuing the injured passengers from a compartment of derailed Guwahati-Puri Express

GUWAHATI: More than 100 passengers were injured, 15 seriously, when the Guwahati-Puri Express derailed after suspected militants triggered an explosion on the tracks near Rangiya at around 8.30pm on Sunday, two-and-a-half hours after the train left Guwahati railway station.

Four coaches behind the engine derailed and fell into a ditch along the tracks at Bhatkuchi, close toNona river, on the Kamrup-Nalbari inter-district border, about 80km from Guwahati. The blast occurred shortly after the train left Rangiya junction, close to the Bhutan border. The train was bound for Puri in Orissa.

Passengers said they heard a huge explosion, following which the train shook violently and derailed. Local people said they heard the blast, but the police have neither confirmed nor denied any explosion at the site for far. At the time of filing this report, villagers were rescuing passengers in the dark as the blast site is in farmland.

The anti-talks factions of United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) are the two militant outfits active in the area. Northeast Frontier Railway authorities have either cancelled or diverted all night trains after the incident.

Villages carry out rescue operations

Rescue teams were yet to arrive at the remote farmland near Rangiya where Guwahati-Puri Express derailed at 8.30pm on Sunday. Only villagers living near the site were pulling passengers out of two of the six derailed coaches in the dark, with little help or equipment.

"We have not been able to search inside the two bogies which have crashed into the water. We do not know if there are people trapped inside," said Kashi Kalita, a local youth, who along with other villagers rescued several passengers. Kalita was travelling on the road parallel to the tracks when he saw a huge ball of fire followed by the sound of an explosion. "There could be 100 to 150 passengers who have been injured. We have sent around 15 of the seriously injured to the nearest hospitals." Dhanmoni Das, another local, said, "There was a loud explosion and it was total chaos after that. Four coaches derailed and one of the bogies skidded and barrelled 20m from the track."

===============================================

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Guwahati-Puri-Express-derails-Explosion-on-tracks-80km-from-