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35
dead, 150 injured in train disaster in Uttar Pradesh
Sunday July 10, 2011 10:28:10 PM,
IANS
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Related Articles |
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Several
passengers injured as Kalka-Howrah Express derail
Many passengers were injured as 14 coaches of the Howrah-Kalka
Express went off the rails near Malwa station in Fatehpur district
of Uttar Pradesh Sunday noon, an official said.
More than 100 people are believed to be trapped inside the coaches
and efforts are on to rescue them, said a railway official.
»
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Lucknow:
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.
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