Five passengers of the New Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail train were killed and 14 others got injured when a sleeper coach of the train derailed after being hit by a stationary goods train in northern Jharkhand on Wednesday morning. Six railway officials were suspended and a probe was ordered.
Low visibility due to fog and the goods train having a faulty engine were cited as possible reasons for the impact between the S-9 sleeper coach of the Dibrugarh-New Delhi train and the goods train at Karanpurato station of Jharkhand’s Sahibganj district, under Eastern Railways, at around 5:50 am. The suspension of six officials — three on duty in the goods train and other three working at the railway station — pointed at human error and dereliction of duty as the mishap’s sources.
According to Indian Railways PRO Anil Saxena, the Bramhaputra Mail was hit by the goods train, which had also come from Dibrugarh, as the latter started rolling back from another line. The pantry car of the train also suffered damage. The injured were rushed to a local hospital for treatment. Four of the dead people were identified till evening.
The railways announced ex-gratia compensations of `5 lakhs for the kin of each dead person and `50,000 for each of the grievously injured. Those with minor injuries will get `10,000. Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi expressed his heartfelt condolence and asked the commissioner of railway safety (eastern circle) to probe and submit a detailed report, said officials.
In Bihar’s Khagaria district, several tankers of an oil-carrying goods train coming from Samastipur derailed from the tracks on Wednesday allegedly because its driver was in a drunken condition, said officials. In another major development, a possible railway accident was averted after the discovery and removal of a 20-kg cane bomb under the tracks near Jarangdih station.