Four train accidents in less than 12 hours killed seven people and injured at least 11, railway officials said on Friday. While three accidents were reported from Uttar Pradesh, one occurred in Odisha.
The spate of accidents began at 7.19 pm on Thursday, when a local train hit a Bolero at an unmanned crossing near Amethi in UP, killing four people and injuring two. The vehicle which was carrying a marriage party was hit at Matha Bhusunda village under the Musafirkhana police station, an official said.
In another accident, at 4.18 am on Friday, three passengers were killed and about a dozen injured when 13 bogies of 12741 Vasco Da Gama-Patna Express derailed at Manikpur railway station in Chitrakoot district. Officials said broken tracks was the reason behind the derailment.
A probe has been ordered into the accident.
Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has announced Rs 5 lakh compensation to families of those killed, Rs 1 lakh to those seriously injured, and Rs 50,000 to those who sustained minor injuries. The anti-terrorism squad (ATS) has also been asked to probe the derailment.
Less than two hours after the Manikpur derailment, a Paradeep-Cuttack goods train jumped the tracks between Goraknath and Raghunathpur in Odisha at 5.55 am.
While no deaths were reported, the down line is expected to remain disrupted till Saturday morning, officials said.
In the fourth incident, the engine of Jammu-Patna Archana Express separated from the train near Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. This happened twice.
Passengers of the Vasco Da Gama-Patna Express claimed that many more people would have died if the train, which was going to Patna from Goa, had caught its full speed.
"I was sleeping, and suddenly there was a loud thud and people were thrown off their berths. I saw many bogies going off track and ramming into each other. It was all so quick that passengers who were sleeping had no time to figure out what had happened. I managed to get out of the bogie through a broken window grill," said Ramesh, a passenger.
Two accident relief vans were rushed to the spot. Police and people living nearby rescued many passengers trapped in mangled bogies. The injured were rushed to hospitals. Two among those died in the derailment have been identified as Deepak Patel and his father Ram Swaroop Patel, residents of Betia in Bihar.
After the rescue operation, the train left for Patna, with the remaining seven coaches. A few trains, including Jhansi-Allahabad and Allahabad-Chitrakoot Passenger trains, were cancelled due to the derailment.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said, "some passengers claimed that the track was uprooted, while some said the driver had applied emergency break. "An inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the exact cause of derailment. A team of the ATS has also been rushed to the site to rule out possibility of any sabotage."
Quoting Railway officials, Principal Secretary, Home, Arvind Kumar, said technical snag was the reason behind derailment.
"It is too early to jump to conclusion. An inquiry has been ordered, let the Railways complete its probe," said Shivakant Dwivedi, the District Magistrate Chitrakoot.
Senior Railways, police and district officers took stock of the rescue operation.
On August 17, 23 people were killed when about a dozen bogies of Utkal Express derailed in Muzaffarnagar. Uprooted track was the reason behind the derailment.
In another train accident, four people were killed and three injured when a Bolero jeep collided with the Lucknow-Sultanpur Passenger train at an unmanned railway crossing near Musafrikhana in Amethi district.
DEATHS IN UP
- Four persons were killed when a local train hit their Bolero at a crossing near Amethi
- Three died when Vasco Da Gama-Patna Express derailed at Manikpur station
— With Agencies
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