A day after a sleeper class coach of Chennai-bound Tamil Nadu Express was gutted in fire near Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, the Government Railway Police (GRP) here has pegged the death toll at 28 and number of injured at 31 while identifying fourteen of the charred victims.
"Of 28 deaths, so far 14 bodies have been identified and 12 of them, including four women and two children, have been handed over to their relatives, while fourteen bodies have been preserved for identification at Nellore government hospital," a Government Railway Police (GRP) release said on Tuesday.
According to the release, 31 passengers were injured in the mystery fire that broke out in S-11 bogie of the ill-fated train near Nellore in the wee hours yesterday and were admitted to different hospitals there.
Out of 31 injured passengers, 12 belonged to Andhra Pradesh, seven to Tamil Nadu, three were from Punjab/Haryana, four from Uttar Pradesh, while three hailed from Madhya Pradesh and one each from Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir, the release said.
Meanwhile, a South Central Railway (SCR) official has also confirmed the death toll at 28. "The death toll in yesterday's accident so far is 28," SCR PRO, identified only as Michael, said over phone from Nellore.
As per the release, following are the names of the victims whose identity has been established and bodies handed over to their families: Dommata Shalini (23), Raju (20), Surapaneni Jaswini (23), Kopuri Venkataramana (30) and Kopuri Pallavi (25)- all from Andhra Pradesh, Riyaz Ahmed Bhatt (30) of Jammu and Kashmir, Tavamani (25), G Jagannadham (53), Ponmani (29), Jaya RoseMery (5) and Jasmin (3)--from Tamil Nadu and Jakir Hussain (43) of Uttar Pradesh.
According to a release from South Central Railway (SCR) here tonight ten passengers travelling in S-11 coach of ill-fated Tamil Nadu Express are not traceble as per the available record. The SCR requested the relatives to visit the government hospital at Nellore at the earliest to help in the identification of the bodies kept at the hospital.