Two people were killed and 22 others injured when 18 coaches of the Howrah-Bombay Post Corporation derailed in Jharkhand's Selekela-Kharsawan district early on Tuesday, officials said.
They said the accident occurred at 3:45 am in Potobeda village near Barabamboo station in Kharsawan block.
South Eastern Railway spokesperson Om Prakash Charan said another freight train derailed nearby.
“At least 18 coaches of the 22-coach 12810 Howrah-Mumbai Mail passing through Nagpur derailed near Barabamboo station in Chakradharpur division of SER,” he said.
Charan said 16 of them were passenger cars, one power car and one catering car.
“Two people died and 22 were injured. Eighteen of the injured have been discharged from hospital and four are under observation,” Seraikela-Kharsawan Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Lunayat told PTI.
Lunayat said all rescue operations were completed within hours of the incident and the state police, district administration and Central Reserve Police Force rushed to the spot, denying the possibility of any sabotage by Naxalites.
One coach of the freight train derailed and fell on other tracks from where the Howrah-Mumbai mail coach was coming, he said, adding that the passenger train hit the coach, resulting in the derailment of 18 coaches.
West Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Kuldeep Chaudhary is at the accident site and supervising the rescue efforts.
The accident occurred near the border of West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts.
“The injured passengers received medical assistance at Balabanpur. They were taken to Chakradharpur for better treatment,” another senior SER official said.
The Railways has paid an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh each to the relatives of the two passengers of the 12810 Howrah-Mumbai Mail train who died, the South Eastern Railway said.
The Railways also paid Rs 1 lakh each to eight persons who suffered minor injuries.
P Bikash and Ajit Kumar Samal, relatives of the deceased passengers, both from Rourkela in Odisha, were given an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh each, the SER said in a statement.
Former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has expressed condolences over the death of two Odisha people in the Mumbai-Howrah postal train derailment in Jharkhand.
SER officials said the railways also announced an investigation into the train accident.
“A team headed by Railway Safety Commissioner will investigate the accident,” senior DCM of SER Chakradharpur Aditya Kumar Choudhary told PTI.
He said, “All passengers have been evacuated from the spot. After the rescue, our focus is now on rescue operations and resumption of train operations on the three tracks. SER General Manager Anil Kumar Mishra said it will take 18 to 20 hours to resume train operations on Running on the track.
He said the derailed truck was heading to Raipur from Tata Nagar.
He added: “The two passengers who died in the accident were near the toilet of the carriage.”
According to eyewitnesses, the impact of the accident was relatively large. Some carriages of the passenger train were destroyed after hitting the freight train.
Jharkhand Police Spokesperson and Inspector General of Police Amol V Homkar said that East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Selekai Police and administrative officials of the Seraikela-Kharsawan region “expedited rescue operations in good coordination with the railway authorities soon after the accident was informed to officials by the head of Amda police outpost”.
He added that Amda officials and the police rushed to the scene at around 4 p.m. after receiving information about the accident.
Jharkhand Health Disaster Management Minister Banner Gupta, who rushed to the scene of the accident, told the media that the Jharkhand government was providing full cooperation to the railways.
“Such major accidents are worrying”, he said, urging the Center to “strengthen infrastructure instead of talking about bullet trains”.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren directed officials to extend all possible cooperation to the railway rescue efforts.
He also announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 200,000 to each family member of the deceased in the train accident and Rs 50,000 to each of the injured.
According to Railway CPRO, the rescue operation has been completed.
“Most of the passengers were taken to Chakradhapur railway station and further taken to their destinations in special trains from Chakradhapur at 12.15 pm,” an official said.
East Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner A Mittal said all necessary actions have been taken to expedite the rescue operations.
Kalpana Soren, JMM legislator and wife of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, urged JMM and Group of India workers to provide water and food to the district administration besides providing water and food to the victims Help and carry out rescue operations.
Witnesses said that nearby villagers rushed to the scene of the accident and fully cooperated with the rescue work.
Due to the accident, SER canceled 11 express and passenger trains, including Howrah-Titlagarh-Kantabanji Express, Kharagpur-Jhargram-Dhanbad Express, Howrah-Barbil-Howrah Jan Shatabdi Express, Tatanagar-Itwari Express and Shalimar-LTT Express.
The other six trains were either stopped for short periods or diverted, the official said.
The South Eastern Railway has launched a helpline number for passengers.
(This report has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)
