A 150-year-old bridge collapsed over the Jamalpur-Howrah Express in Bihar's Bhagalpur district killing 33 people and trapping about 30.
Updated at 7.46 pm
BHAGALPUR: Thirty-three persons were killed and many were injured, some of them seriously, when a nearly 150-year-old overbridge collapsed over the Howrah-Jamalpur Superfast Express on Saturday morning, trapping many inside.
The mishap occurred at around 8 am when a portion of the bridge known as 'Ulta Pul', abandoned for four years and was being dismantled by the railways, collapsed over a compartment, crushing half a portion of it.
About 30 passengers either came out on their own or were rescued with minor injuries. Among them, 14 were rushed to various hospitals of Bhagalpur town, chief public relations officer of Eastern Railway SK Majumdar said.
Some passengers are still trapped, he said. "The number of those trapped inside is not expected to be very large," he said.
Rescue operations are on in full swing with the district administration and local people trying to extricate those trapped.
Two cranes are engaged in clearing the large debris and a relief train has reached from Jamalpur.
District Magistrate of Bhagalpur Vipin Kumar and Superintendent of Police JS Gangwar are supervising rescue operations.
Train services on the Sahibganj-Bhagalpur section was suspended as a result of the incident, railway sources said.
Eastern Railway General Manager SS Khurana has rushed to the site from Chittaranjan as well as the divisional railway manager of Malda Rakesh Mishra and other senior railway officers.
Helplines have been opened by at Bhagalpur, Jamalpur. Malda and Howarh stations. The numbers are Bhagalpur 0641-1072, Jamalpur 06344-1072, Malda 03512-1072 and Howrah 033-26501660.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi expressed distress and grief at the deaths.
Singh extended condolences to the families of the deceased, his media adviser Sanjaya Baru said.
Gandhi expressed profound grief and extended her condolences to the next of kin of those killed in the accident.
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