Dozens dead as train runs into crowd in India
NEW DELHI • A speeding train ran over a crowd watching fireworks during a religious festival in northern India on Friday, killing at least 58 people and injuring dozens more, police said.
The train failed to stop after the accident on the outskirts of Amritsar, a city in Punjab state that is 465 kilometres north of New Delhi, according to the state governing Congress party politician Pratap Singh Bajwa.
“I have lost my minor child. I want him back,” a mother cried.
Two trains arrived from the opposite direction on separate tracks at the same time giving little opportunity to people to escape, according to The Press Trust of India news agency. However, the casualties were caused by one of the trains, it quoted officials as saying.
A witness said the train didn’t even sound its whistle as it sped past the site, where hundreds were standing on and near the tracks watching the burning of an effigy of the demon Ravana during Dussehra, the Hindu festival marking the triumph of good over evil.
“Why did authorities allow the fireworks display so close to the railroad track,”’ he asked.
He told the Republic television channel that he lost two brothers.
As the effigy was lit and the fireworks started at the religious function, a section of the crowd started retreating toward railroad tracks while watching the event.
Some eyewitnesses told BBC Punjabi, many on the tracks were busy filming the festivities on their phones and did not notice the train approaching.
Another witness said the victims didn’t realize that a train was coming their way because the fireworks were too loud.
The area was strewn with severed body parts of those crushed under the wheels of the train.
Screams filled the air as friends and relatives frantically searched for their loved ones. Severed bodies, including those of children, were still on the scene hours after the incident because people were not allowing authorities to remove them, India Today reported.
“I removed the bodies from the tracks... my hands were full of blood,” Amar Nath told BBC Punjabi.
Navjot Kaur Siddhu, a local Congress party politician who was the chief guest at the religious function, said the celebrations take place in the area every year and railway authorities are alerted to run the trains at slow speeds.
Police Commissioner S.S. Srivastava said the police have found 58 bodies so far.
There was no railway ministry statement on the accident.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was extremely saddened by the accident. “The tragedy is heart-wrenching. My deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their loved ones and I pray that the injured recover quickly. Have asked officials to provide immediate assistance that is required,” Modi tweeted.