60 dead, 150 injured in West Bengal train accident (Afternoon Lead)

SAINTHIA - At least 60 people were killed and 150 injured when a speeding passenger train ploughed through a train standing at a station in West Bengal’s Birbhum district in the early hours of Monday.

The Sealdah-bound Uttar Banga Express rammed into three coaches, one luggage van and two unreserved general second class coaches, of the stationary Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vananchal Express at Sainthia station in Birbhum, about 190 km from Kolkata, at about 2.15 a.m., railway authorities said.

Among the dead were 57 passengers, who were rudely jolted out of their sleep, and three railway employees, an Eastern Railway release said here. The three railway employees who died are driver M.C. Dey, assistant driver N.K. Mandal of the Uttar Banga Express and the guard of the Vananchal Express A. Mukherjee.

As relatives of the passengers in the two trains frantically looked for some information, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed regret and said she was “sorry to see two incidents (railway accidents) in West Bengal in two months”.

Banerjee also told reporters while leaving for the accident site: “We have some doubt in our mind. We are searching for information. Let us now find details.”

The accident occurred 52 days after the Gyaneshwari Express tragedy in which 148 people died as Maoist guerrillas cut open the pandrol clips ((used to fix the rail to the sleeper) near Jhargram in West Midnapore district. After the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express derailed May 28, a freight train approaching from the opposite direction rammed into five derailed coaches, resulting in the high casualties.

Bodies from the accident spot were sent to the district hospital in Suri, the headquarters of Birbhum district, Sainthia Government Railway Police (GRP) sources said.

“About 150 of the injured have been shifted to hospitals in Suri and Sainthia,” Additional Director General of Police (Railways) Dilip Mitra said.

Giving details, an Eastern Railway spokesman said the Vananchal Express was at platform 4 when the Uttar Banga Express, coming from New Coochbehar, hit it. All three coaches were badly mangled by the severity of the collision with one of the coaches shooting up from the tracks and careening into the footbridge above.

Local people were the first to rush in for the rescue as cries of the injured passengers, many of whom had lost their limbs, rent the air.

The authorities, facing allegations of a delayed start to the rescue efforts, were using gas-cutters to cut open the coaches and bring out the dead and rescue the injured.

“Many of the bodies have got pasted in the coaches. We are only managing to extricate body parts, rather than whole bodies,” said a rescue worker.

“We were sleeping. Suddenly we were awakened by a loud sound. The train was dark. For a few minutes we were dumbfounded. Then I gathered my wits and came out of the train,” said R.N. Ghosh, a passenger of Uttar Banga Express.

“The station was also dark. I saw people running in panic. Then I found that Uttarbanga has hit another train. Three of the rear bogies of this train (Vananchal) were devastated,” he said.

Eastern Railway General Manager V.N. Tripathy said an enquiry has been ordered into how both the trains came on to the same line.

Train movement on the down line has been disrupted in the Bolpur-Rampurhat section. The down Malda-Howrah Intercity Express were among several trains cancelled and many trains were stranded.

A railway official said other than the three coaches that were hit, the remainder of the Vananchal Express was brought to Burdwan en route to Ranchi. The Uttar Banga Express has been brought to Rampurhat after replacing the damaged engine.

Compensation of Rs.5 lakh will be paid to the kin of those killed in the train accident in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, Banerjee said Monday.

She said a job would be provided to the kin of the dead. Banerjee also announced compensation of Rs.1 lakh for the grievously injured and Rs.25,000 for those who sustained minor injuries.