An investigation will reveal what caused the accident," Mohammed Jamshed, Member (Traffic), Railway Board, told reporters in Delhi.
Investigators were today looking into what caused one of the deadliest train accidents in recent times as rescue operations continued, checking to see if there were people still trapped in the mangled coaches of the Utkal Express that derailed here yesterday.
The railway ministry said 21 people were killed and 97 injured, 26 of them grievously, in the accident near Khatauli in western Uttar Pradesh.
"Prime facie, it seems maintenance work was being carried out on the tracks. An investigation will reveal what caused the accident," Mohammed Jamshed, Member (Traffic), Railway Board, told reporters in Delhi.
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu directed the chairman of the Railway Board to fix responsibility on "prima facie evidence by the end of day" for the derailment. He had ordered an inquiry into the accident yesterday.
The railways have deployed high-tech cranes and scores of workers to clear the tracks near Khatauli.
Two 140-tonne cranes were being used from early morning today to clear derailed coaches, from which survivors had been rescued and bodies pulled out till late last night.
Rescue operation by the National Disaster Response Force got over at around 3 AM.
Thirteen coaches of the high-speed Utkal Express, on its way from Puri in Odisha to Haridwar in Uttarakhand, jumped the rails yesterday, with one coach crashing into a house near the tracks.
Minister Prabhu said he was monitoring the situation and that restoration of the tracks was his top priority.
"Restoration is top priority. Seven coaches tackled. Also ensuring best possible medical care for the injured," he tweeted today.
A senior Uttar Pradesh official said 156 people were injured in the derailment.
"A total of 156 people were injured in the Utkal Express train accident and among them many remain critical," Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Principal Secretary (Information), UP government, told
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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