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40 killed, 142 injured in Punjab train accident

At least 40 passengers were killed and over 142 injured when the Amritsar-bound Howrah Mail rammed into a derailed goods train near Sarai Banjara, about 40 km from Ambala, early Saturday morning.

Twenty-five people died on the spot and others succumbed to injuries in hospitals at Fatehgarh Sahib, Rajpura and Patiala, officials at the spot said.

The toll is expected to go up as some of the injured are in a critical condition, they said.

The accident occurred around 0520 hours IST when the Howrah-Amristar Mail crashed into some wagons of the goods train which had derailed on the up track .

Before the derailment could be intimated to nearby stations including Sarai Banjara and Sadhugarh, the passenger train reached the spot and collided into the derailed coaches.

Five coaches of the passenger train overturned due to the impact of the collision.

Many villagers carrying lanterns rushed to the site after hearing the loud bang and started pulling out people from the badly-mangled bogies and rushed them to hospitals on their tractors before the officials reached the spot.

Cranes have been put into service to lift the mangled bogies and rescuers were using blowtorches to cut through the affected coaches to pull out trapped passengers.

Of the injured 73 were admitted to Fatehgarh Sahib hospital, 53 to Government Rajindra Medical College Hospital in Patila, 32 to a Rajpura hospital and 11 to PGI Chandigarh.

Railways have announced an ex-gratia of Rs 15,000 each to the next of kin of the dead, Rs 5,000 to the seriously injured passengers and Rs 500 to those with minor injuries.

Several trains have been suspended, curtailed or diverted due to the accident, which occurred 40 kms from the site where Sealdah Express had rammed into three derailed bogies of Frontier Mail on November 26, 1998, killing 211 people.

A PTI correspondent who visited the spot reported a ghastly site with three coaches of the passenger train placed above the engine and two others lying derailed with people trapped inside screaming for help. Many of them were badly injured.

Villagers who rushed to the site and helped in the rescue operation, also provided tea and blankets to the survivors.

They also made announcements over loudspeakers of religious shrines urging people to provide relief material.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee will fly to Sarai Banjara in Punjab Saturday to supervise rescue operations.

Banerjee, who has already instructed officials to go to the spot, will fly to the accident site after cutting short her political programme in Midnapore.

Special inquiry counters have been opened at Howrah, Sealdah, Asansol, Dhanbad, Patna and Mughalsarai stations.

The telephone numbers of the special enquiry counter at Howrah station are 660-1416 and 660-6142, while those at Sealdah station are 350-3535 and 350-3537.

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