Prashant Pandey
Posted: Mon Jul 11 2011, 02:14 hrs
The derailed bogies following the accident. The train was travelling at 108 kmph when it derailed. AP
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Malwan, Fatehpur: At least 30 people were killed and over 140 injured when 15 coaches of a speeding Delhi-bound Kalka Mail derailed at a small station here today shortly after noon. The toll is expected to rise as rescue workers had not been able to enter two of the worst-hit bogies, just behind the engine, till late in the night.
While 16 people died on the spot, others later succumbed to injuries. Among those injured were drivers A K Pandey and U K Yadav, who are now out of danger and are being questioned on the possible reasons for the derailment, caused by the engine veering off the track.
General Manager, North Central Railway, H C Joshi said the 12311 Howrah-Delhi-Kalka Mail was running at a very high speed when the accident — the worst this year — occurred. “It was almost moving at the speed of 108 kmph, which is full speed,” Joshi said.
“Fifteen bogies of the train derailed, out of which 10 are in bad shape. The exact cause of the derailment is being ascertained. The Commissioner of Railway Safety has been directed to probe the incident.”
While Public Relations Officer of the North Central Railway Amit Malviya said they had information that 27 people had died in the incident, ADG, Railway, A K Jain said 28 people had been killed. Special DG, Law and Order, Uttar Pradesh, put the toll at 36 dead and 140 injured.
The accident site, near Malwan, is less than 30 km from Fatehpur. The packed train had started from Howrah on July 9 evening and was scheduled to reach Delhi today evening.
With the accident happening when the train was almost running at 110 kmph, the coaches hurtled into each other. Under the impact, some got damaged and derailed, and others climbed over one another, trapping hundreds of passengers inside.
While the engine of the train turned turtle, the pantry car, five sleeper coaches, five air-conditioned and two general bodies were damaged. The worst affected were S-1 and S-2 three-tier sleeper coaches. “The toll is likely to mount because these two bogies are yet to be opened. Rescue operations are still on,” said North Central Railways’ Chief Public Relations Officer Sandeep Mathur.
With bogies getting flung in the air, the overhead transmission poles were also damaged and the supply had to be stopped.
At the site, theories abounded about what led to the accident. While a few maintained that it was a signal fault, another theory was that the driver braked suddenly after a herd of animals began crossing the track.
The fact that the train had traversed close to 900 km without a glitch suggested that the possibility of a technical snag was remote. “This leaves us with only two scenarios — either the track on the Allahabad-Kanpur section was damaged because of maintenance issues or it was a plain act of sabotage,” a senior Railway official said, requesting anonymity.
Sources also said that there were possibilities of a portion of the track being fractured or worn-out or some kind of an obstruction on the track that could have caused the derailment. People from nearby villages, who arrived within minutes, smashed glasspanes to help the trapped passengers come out of the coaches.
“Sixteen bodies were lying on the spot,” said Akhand Pratap, Station Officer of Government Railway Police at Fatehpur, who was among the first officials to arrive after the incident.
Earlier, following the incident, it was the locals who became the “first-responders”. “A very old lady managed to come out of one of the air-borne A/C coaches when one of the passengers from inside managed to break open the windows,” said Abhishek Dikshit, a resident of Malwan.
City hospital Chief Medical Superintendent Dr Rakesh Kumar said that around 100 injured persons had been brought to the hospital, while at least 10 bodies were lying in the mortuary. “Out of them, nearly 20 have been referred to hospitals in Kanpur and Allahabad,” he said, adding that a Swede national was taken to Lucknow in a helicopter.
With the accident happening when the train was almost running at 110 kmph, the coaches hurtled into each other. Under the impact, some got damaged and derailed, and others climbed over one another, trapping hundreds of passengers inside.
While the engine of the train turned turtle, the pantry car, five sleeper coaches, five air-conditioned and two general bodies were damaged. The worst affected were S-1 and S-2 three-tier sleeper coaches. “The toll is likely to mount because these two bogies are yet to be opened. Rescue operations are still on,” said North Central Railways’ Chief Public Relations Officer Sandeep Mathur.
With bogies getting flung in the air, the overhead transmission poles were also damaged and the supply had to be stopped.
At the site, theories abounded about what led to the accident. While a few maintained that it was a signal fault, another theory was that the driver braked suddenly after a herd of animals began crossing the track.
The fact that the train had traversed close to 900 km without a glitch suggested that the possibility of a technical snag was remote. “This leaves us with only two scenarios — either the track on the Allahabad-Kanpur section was damaged because of maintenance issues or it was a plain act of sabotage,” a senior Railway official said, requesting anonymity.
Sources also said that there were possibilities of a portion of the track being fractured or worn-out or some kind of an obstruction on the track that could have caused the derailment. People from nearby villages, who arrived within minutes, smashed glasspanes to help the trapped passengers come out of the coaches.
“Sixteen bodies were lying on the spot,” said Akhand Pratap, Station Officer of Government Railway Police at Fatehpur, who was among the first officials to arrive after the incident.
Earlier, following the incident, it was the locals who became the “first-responders”. “A very old lady managed to come out of one of the air-borne A/C coaches when one of the passengers from inside managed to break open the windows,” said Abhishek Dikshit, a resident of Malwan.
City hospital Chief Medical Superintendent Dr Rakesh Kumar said that around 100 injured persons had been brought to the hospital, while at least 10 bodies were lying in the mortuary. “Out of them, nearly 20 have been referred to hospitals in Kanpur and Allahabad,” he said, adding that a Swede national was taken to Lucknow in a helicopter.
Local residents came out in large numbers to help the hospital administration. “We have arranged for food. We have asked our boys to ensure that the belongings of the victims do not go missing,” said Shahafat Ali.
(with Raghvendra Rao in New Delhi)
(with Raghvendra Rao in New Delhi)
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indianexpress.com/news/30-dead-240-hurt-as-trains-derail/815705/0
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