Train Derails near Vishakapatnam: toll rises to 3, 21 injured

BHUBANESWAR: Two more passengers succumbed to injuries on Monday, taking the toll in the derailment of the Nagercoil-Howrah superfast express near Vishakapatnam to three.
 
Twenty one other passengers were injured in the mishap last night at Duwada, seven of them seriously, when seven coaches of the train got derailed while three other bogies had tilted.
 
"There might have been more injuries, mostly minor in nature, but we are referring to those who had been hospitalised", East Coast Railway CPRO B K Mishra told this morning.
  
The passengers killed in the mishap have been identified as M Prasad Rao, Birendra Jena and Sisir Jena.
 
The injured persons had been shifted to the King George Hospital and railway hospital while a relief train hasreached the spot with equipment, Mishra said.
 
The derailment occurred at a steep curve near Gopalpatnam, he said adding the cause of the mishap was under investigation.
 
A control room has been opened at Visakhapatnam to provide assistance on telephone no. 0891-2575083.
  
The mishap has affected railway traffic on the Howrah-Chennai trunk line as the down line has been obstructed.
  
Mishra said the traffic had been reopened oh several trains were running behind schedule. Manytrains on the route had been stopped at various stations, he said.