Indian train crash leaves dozens dead

[John Ashworth]

Indian train crash leaves dozens dead

Packed express train derails in Uttar Pradesh, killing more than 30 people and injuring at least 100 more

* Associated Press
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 10 July 2011 15.44 BST

A packed express train has derailed in northern India, killing at least 31 people and injuring more than 100 others.

The train was on its way from Howrah station near Kolkata to Kalka in the foothills of the Himalayas when 12 coaches and the locomotive left the tracks near the town of Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh state, senior railway official AK Jain said.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately clear but it appeared that the driver had applied the emergency brakes, he added.

At least 31 people were killed and rescue workers pulled at least 100 injured passengers out of the wreckage, said Brij Lal, a state police official.

Television footage showed that at least one coach had been shunted over the roof of another and was dangling precariously. Another coach was thrown away from the rest of the train.

The death toll was likely to rise as rescuers made their way through the coaches using gas cutters to clear the twisted metal, Lal said. "We're trying to cut into the coaches and rescue those still trapped inside."

Medical personnel rushed to the area, about 75 miles south-east of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. Army helicopters ferried the most seriously injured victims to hospitals and 30 military engineers had joined the rescue efforts, Lal said.

TV stations showed local residents helping injured passengers away from the train and breaking the windows of coaches to help those trapped inside.

The number of passengers on board was not known. Express trains normally carry about 1,000 people and travel at speeds of up to 80mph.

India's rail network is one of the largest in the world and carries about 14 million passengers a day. Accidents are common, with most blamed on poor maintenance and human error.


India: Train crash in Uttar Pradesh kills dozens

BBC 11 July 2011 Last updated at 03:11 ET

At least 67 people have been killed and almost 250 injured in a train derailment in northern India.

A dozen coaches of the Kalka Mail passenger train left the rails near the town of Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Rescue workers and locals have been working through the night to try to free trapped passengers from the badly damaged carriages.

The train was travelling from Howrah near Calcutta to the capital Delhi and derailed at more than 100kmph (62mph).

As of Monday morning some 67 bodies had been removed from the damaged coaches, including those of two Swedish passengers, said the BBC's Ram Dutt Tripathi in Fatehpur.

A third Swede is among scores of injured receiving treatment in hospital in the local town of Kanpur.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed his deep concern over the accident, the second in a week in Uttar Pradesh, and has directed the railway authorities to use all available resources for the relief operation.

Some coaches mounted each other and others were badly crushed in the accident, making it difficult for rescuers to reach victims.

Specialist medical and engineering teams along with cutting equipment and cranes have been sent to the crash site, local reports said.
Villagers praised

The cause of the derailment, about 120km (75 miles) south-east of Uttar Pradesh's capital, Lucknow, was not immediately clear.

The drivers of the train escaped with minor injuries. They told the BBC that their train was derailed by faulty work on the track by rail workers.

Ram Kumar, a conductor on the train, told our reporter he remembered feeling a series of jolts, before the guard pulled the emergency brake.

The train was reportedly travelling at 108km/h (67mph) - fast by local standards.

A rail worker told the BBC that maintenance work was being done at Malvan station, about which the train driver had not been warned.

Survivors praised local villagers, who arrived at the scene within 20 minutes to help with rescue work.

Most of the injured are being treated at hospitals in Fatehpur, but the worst cases have been taken to Lucknow, Kanpur and Allahabad.

The Uttar Pradesh state governor, B L Joshi, has arrived in Fatehpur and is expected to visit the crash site and hospital.

Accidents are common on the state-owned Indian railway, an immense network connecting every corner of the vast country.

It operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 18 million passengers every day.

Last Thursday, 38 people died in Uttar Pradesh when a train hit a bus carrying a wedding party.