Lucknow: At least 15 people were killed when two crowded coaches of Dehradun-Varanasi Janata Express derailed in Uttar Pradesh on Friday after the driver overshot a signal, officials said.
Dehradun-Varanasi Janata Express derailed at Bachhrawan
The mishap occurred around 9.10 am as the train was coming to a stop at the Bachhrawan station, around 30 km from Rae Bareli and 50 km from state capital Lucknow, official sources said. One of the coaches, a general compartment, bore the brunt of the impact, while the other was the guard’s van.
Mahesh Gupta, a railway divisional commissioner, told IANS that 15 people had been killed and that the toll could rise. Rescuers struggled to remove bodies crushed within the mangled coaches. Some bodies were pulled out from under the coaches. “The number of casualties is likely to increase as the general bogey has been completely flattened,” an official told IANS.
UP Government announces Compensation
The government has announced a compensation of Rs. 2 lakh for the next of kin of those who died and Rs. 50,000 to each person injured in the accident. While the exact details and the nature of the accident would require some time to come out, this is the second train accident so far in 2015. The first being Bengaluru-Ernakulam Intercity Express.
Northern Railway officials said that prima facie the train driver seemed to be at fault. “The train was to stop at the Banchrawa railway station but it did not. When he realized this, the engine driver applied the emergency brakes, leading to the derailment,” one official said.
The accident disrupted train services on the important New Delhi-Lucknow-Varanasi sector. Furious locals and villagers from nearby areas who rushed to the site raised slogans against the administration and railway authorities, saying official rescuers took a long time to reach the disaster spot.
A special relief train has been rushed to Banchrawa from Lucknow, the officials said.
