UP train accident: Death toll rises to 4; high-level probe underway

The death toll from the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailment in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, has risen to four, with 31 people injured, an official said on Friday (July 19).

Eight coaches of the train had derailed between Motiganj and Jhilahi railway stations, about 150 km from the state capital, on the Gonda-Gorakhpur section of the Northeast Railway on Thursday afternoon.

District Magistrate of Gonda, Neha Sharma, said, "So far, four passengers have died and 31 are injured. Of the injured, the condition of around half a dozen is critical." "The deceased include Rahul, 38, Saroj Kumar Singh, 31, and two unknown passengers. The body of one of the unknown passengers was retrieved on Friday morning," Sharma said.

"The bodies of the four have arrived at the district headquarters. Their post-mortem examination will be conducted after their relatives arrive," Sharma said, adding orders have been given to conduct a magisterial inquiry into the incident.

Sharma said she was present at Mankapur Junction when a special train with 600 passengers of the Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express left for Assam on Thursday night, hours after the accident, according to an official statement.

The officer said she interacted with several passengers and none of them complained about any of their co-passengers missing. She also said that work to restore the railway track is going on, and it will be completed soon.

The district magistrate reached the district hospital on Friday morning and met the injured admitted there. She directed the chief medical superintendent of the hospital to provide proper treatment and care to the injured.

The DM asked the chief medical officer and the district to take special care of the lone passengers injured in the train.

Speaking to reporters at the hospital, she said two of the critically injured passengers are undergoing treatment at Lucknow's trauma centre while four patients each are admitted to the district hospital and the railway's empanelled hospital.

A railway official said a high-level investigation has begun to ascertain the cause behind the derailment.

The railway technical team, which reached the spot late last night, collected samples from the accident site and took photographs. Meanwhile, the railway administration is trying to restore traffic by removing the damaged coaches from the track.

A railway official said the restoration work was carried out through the night using light from a generator. A team of about 800 railway employees has been engaged in repair work since Friday morning, he added.

General Manager of Northeast Railway Saumya Mathur is present at the spot and monitoring the situation, officials said.

The damaged coaches have been separated using a gas cutter while the work of straightening and removing the overturned coaches using JCB and crane is underway. Efforts are also being made to to lay the rail track that was completely uprooted in the accident, they said.

The Gonda-Gorakhpur rail section is a fully electrified line. Electric poles and electric wires were completely destroyed in the accident, and work is underway to re-install them, officials said.

Mathur told PTI Videos, "Our effort is to ensure that the down line is restored at the earliest. The upline was restored for diesel (locomotives) last night itself." The railway ministry on Thursday said a high-level inquiry has been ordered, apart from the probe by the Commission of Railway Safety.

The ministry had also said an enhanced ex-gratia amount of Rs 10 lakh will be given to the relatives of those killed. The grievously injured passengers will get Rs 2.5 lakh and those with minor injuries Rs 50,000.

(With agency inputs)