Maoist guerrillas blow up rail track in Orissa

BHUBANESWAR - A rail track was blown up by Maoists early Monday near Bhalulata railway station in Orissa’s Sundergarh district, an official said.

The rail track was blown up between Bhalulata and Mahupada stations in the district.

“A goods train was derailed as Maoists blew up a railway track two km from Bhalulata station. One wagon was derailed,” V.K. Srivastav, senior manager of Chhatrapur division, told IANS.

The incident occurred at 12.45 a.m. The goods train was travelling from Rourkela when its 19th wagon derailed.

Train services along the Rourkela-Howrah route were hit following the derailment. Many trains remained stranded in nearby stations for hours following the incident.

“We are stranded kilometres away from Rourkela railway station. We would have reached our destination by now,” said M. Ali, a passenger.

Soon after the incident, rail officials along with other security officials rushed to the spot to repair the damaged tracks. During inspection along the tracks a powerful bomb was detected on the up line (second track) near the mishap site.

“A huge 30 kg bomb was recovered during the inspection which we managed to diffuse with the help of the anti-bomb squad,” Srivastav said.

After thorough checking of the tracks, train services were resumed.

“Train services have been normalised along the route after checking the tracks. The stranded trains are leaving for their destinations,” said S.K. Panda, the station master of Rourkela.

A 72-hour strike called by Maoist guerrillas in Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal entered its second day Monday.