61 dead in rail collision
Source: Agencies |
July 20, 2010, Tuesday
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Mithun Mahato was fast asleep on an overnight train when an enormous jolt woke him as his coach was flipping over. He lay with his leg broken for five hours, crushed under dead bodies of other passengers as he waited for help.
The collision between two express trains at a station in eastern India early yesterday killed 61 people and injured scores more.
Accidents are common on India's rail network, one of the world's largest, with most blamed on poor maintenance and human error.
It was the second major train crash in the state of West Bengal in the past two months. On May 28, a passenger train derailed and was hit by an oncoming cargo train in a crash that killed 145 people. Authorities blamed sabotage by rebels.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee raised the possibility that yesterday's crash could have been another case of sabotage.
The accident happened at about 2am when the Uttarbanga Express slammed into the Vananchal Express as it was leaving the platform at Sainthia station, about 200 kilometers north of Calcutta. Two passenger cars and a luggage car of the Vananchal Express were destroyed.
Local residents climbing through the debris searching for survivors were later joined by rescue workers using heavy equipment to cut through the metal.
"I had fallen asleep and woke up when I felt an enormous jolt and then suddenly I felt my coach turning over," said the 22-year-old Mahato.
"Three or four passengers fell on top of me and my right leg broke.At least three people sitting next to me in the coach died."
A passenger on the Vananchal Express, Mohammed Iris, 52, managed to crawl out of his coach an hour after it overturned. "Our train had been given the signal to move but it had barely started moving when I felt an enormous jolt and then I felt the coach turning over," he said.
Rescuers have recovered 61 bodies and at least 125 other people were injured. The two drivers of the Uttarbanga Express were among the dead.
The collision between two express trains at a station in eastern India early yesterday killed 61 people and injured scores more.
Accidents are common on India's rail network, one of the world's largest, with most blamed on poor maintenance and human error.
It was the second major train crash in the state of West Bengal in the past two months. On May 28, a passenger train derailed and was hit by an oncoming cargo train in a crash that killed 145 people. Authorities blamed sabotage by rebels.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee raised the possibility that yesterday's crash could have been another case of sabotage.
The accident happened at about 2am when the Uttarbanga Express slammed into the Vananchal Express as it was leaving the platform at Sainthia station, about 200 kilometers north of Calcutta. Two passenger cars and a luggage car of the Vananchal Express were destroyed.
Local residents climbing through the debris searching for survivors were later joined by rescue workers using heavy equipment to cut through the metal.
"I had fallen asleep and woke up when I felt an enormous jolt and then suddenly I felt my coach turning over," said the 22-year-old Mahato.
"Three or four passengers fell on top of me and my right leg broke.At least three people sitting next to me in the coach died."
A passenger on the Vananchal Express, Mohammed Iris, 52, managed to crawl out of his coach an hour after it overturned. "Our train had been given the signal to move but it had barely started moving when I felt an enormous jolt and then I felt the coach turning over," he said.
Rescuers have recovered 61 bodies and at least 125 other people were injured. The two drivers of the Uttarbanga Express were among the dead.
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