18 dead as train derails in India

BHOPAL – At least 18 people were killed and scores injured when six coaches of a passenger train were derailed yesterday as it approached a station in central India, police and railway spokesmen said.

“Eighteen bodies have been brought out and further rescue operations are being carried out,” police Superintendent R.P. Srivastava said by telephone from the scene of the accident.The Bundelkhand Express jumped the tracks and rammed into a railway signal cabin at Datiya, 280 kilometres north of Bhopal in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, said Indian Railways spokesman Rajiv Saxena.The train derailed at 8:59am as it travelled from Varanasi in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.Reports said the train approached the station faster than normal.”The engine and the first six carriages jumped the rails and overturned,” Vagesh Pandey, another railways spokesman, said from the scene of the accident.”Casualty figures will increase as we find more bodies which are believed to be stuck between (crushed) carriages or in their mangled seats.”Rescue efforts continued yesterday afternoon with heavy equipment brought in to help pry the coaches apart, a railways official said.”Local residents have joined in the rescue and relief operations and senior railway and district officials have also reached the spot to oversee relief and rescue operations,” said P.D.Meena, a senior railways official based in Bhopal.Vinod Shukla, a passenger travelling to Gwalior who was sleeping when the train crashed, said scores had been injured.”There were a lot of people injured, I think more than 100 people injured in the accident,” Shukla said.Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav announced cash payouts for families of the dead and said the injured would be treated free of charge.”Accidents happen but their numbers are now going down,” Yadav said.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed shock and grief and offered condolences to the relatives of those who died, his spokesman said in a statement.State-run Indian Railways transports more than 13 million passengers daily on networks that sprawl 108 700 kilometres across the nation with a population of more than one billion.Some 300 accidents are recorded every year, some of which result in hundreds of deaths.- Nampa-AFPSrivastava said by telephone from the scene of the accident.The Bundelkhand Express jumped the tracks and rammed into a railway signal cabin at Datiya, 280 kilometres north of Bhopal in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, said Indian Railways spokesman Rajiv Saxena.The train derailed at 8:59am as it travelled from Varanasi in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state to Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.Reports said the train approached the station faster than normal.”The engine and the first six carriages jumped the rails and overturned,” Vagesh Pandey, another railways spokesman, said from the scene of the accident.”Casualty figures will increase as we find more bodies which are believed to be stuck between (crushed) carriages or in their mangled seats.”Rescue efforts continued yesterday afternoon with heavy equipment brought in to help pry the coaches apart, a railways official said.”Local residents have joined in the rescue and relief operations and senior railway and district officials have also reached the spot to oversee relief and rescue operations,” said P.D.Meena, a senior railways official based in Bhopal.Vinod Shukla, a passenger travelling to Gwalior who was sleeping when the train crashed, said scores had been injured.”There were a lot of people injured, I think more than 100 people injured in the accident,” Shukla said.Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav announced cash payouts for families of the dead and said the injured would be treated free of charge.”Accidents happen but their numbers are now going down,” Yadav said.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed shock and grief and offered condolences to the relatives of those who died, his spokesman said in a statement.State-run Indian Railways transports more than 13 million passengers daily on networks that sprawl 108 700 kilometres across the nation with a population of more than one billion.Some 300 accidents are recorded every year, some of which result in hundreds of deaths.- Nampa-AFP