Lucknow,
July 10: About 35 people were killed dead and at least 150
injured Sunday noon as 14 coaches of a speeding Kalka-bound train
derailed in Uttar Pradesh, trapping hundreds of passengers for hours in the mangled mess. The army was hurriedly deployed in the rescue operations.
The accident, which took place as
the Kalka Mail was nearing the Malwan railway station in Fatehpur
district, toppled some of the coaches over two adjoining rail tracks,
sealing off the busy route to Howrah from where the train was coming.
The overturned coaches included the
air-conditioned ones and the pantry car. At least one coach was crushed
by another. The accident site is about 140 km from here.
Even as dazed and slightly wounded
passengers made it out of the train coaches, with or without help from
villagers who were the first to rush to the site, the death toll began
to steadily climb.
Uttar Pradesh Special Director
General of Police Brij Lal told IANS that while 31 bodies had been taken
out, he believed at least 35 passengers had been killed.
The reason for the accident was not
clear. But some officials said the train was going at over 100 km per
hour when the driver applied emergency brakes just before the Malwan
station.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
expressed shock over the disaster. The central and the Uttar Pradesh
governments quickly announced compensation for the dead and the injured.
Rescue efforts at the start were
slow as villagers and policemen lacked expertise and equipment to cut
open the coaches. Some passengers charged the railways with lethargy.
It took some time for the railway
staff to reach the coaches and start cutting them to extricate the
trapped passengers. The dead had to be taken out. Some passengers
smashed window panes to come out.
Some 200 policemen did what they
could -- putting the injured on large pieces of cloth to be lifted to
the nearest vehicles to be taken to Kanpur and Fatehpur hospitals.
Soldiers then joined the rescue
work. Military helicopters ferried the more seriously injured to
hospitals to Lucknow and Allahabad, about 120 km away.
'Hundreds remained trapped inside
the coaches until gas cutters were put on the job to cut open the
metal-frame of the coaches,' North Central Railway senior divisional
operations manager Pradeep Ojha told IANS over telephone from Allahabad.
Fatehpur's Chief Medical Officer
Keshav Narain Joshi also put the number of dead at 35. He said at least
least 150 were injured in varying degrees.
'We are including not only the bodies which have been extricated from the coaches but also those yet to be pulled ou,' he said.
About 15 of the seriously injured were rushed to hospitals in Fatehpur (16 km away) and Kanpur (45 km away), Joshi added.
The railway ministry announced a compensation of Rs.5 lakh to the next of kin of the dead.
Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Mayawati declared an ex gratia relief of Rs.1 lakh to families
of each of the dead. Those who sustained serious injuries will get Rs.1
Lakh each.Officials said two relief trains - from Kanpur and Allahabad - have been sent to the spot.
India's rail network is one of the largest in the world and carries about 14 million passengers a day.
Source: IANS
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