We told TTE about unusual sound: Survivors UP COPS SET UP GREEN CORRIDOR

KANPUR: Some passengers of the coaches S-1 and S-2 of the ill-fated Indore-Patna express train complained to the guard and the travelling ticket examiner (TTE) during a halt at Jhansi railway station about an unusually loud, thunder-like sound, some survivors said.

They added that the tragedy could have been averted if the complaint had been heeded.

Initial reports based on eyewitness accounts and technical assessment indicated that wheels of coach S-1 jammed, causing one of the worst tragedies in the history of the Indian Railways, railway sources said.

Deepak Rajbhar, 32, of Mauhari (Azamgarh) was in coach S-1 with his uncle Jai Prakash. “The sound was unusual. I travel a lot and I could make out the sound wasn’t right. Some passengers of my coach shared their concern with the TTE at Jhansi. He told us it was normal,” Deepak said at a hospital in Kanpur.

The train was stopped twice ahead of Jhansi as the unusual sound was becoming unbearable, said Vishwa Mitra Bajpai of Bahraich who was returning from a pilgrimage to Ujjain.

Near Jhansi, the train shuddered for several seconds and some people complained to the guard and other railway officials who assured them that there was nothing to worry about, Bajpai added.

Railway officials, who did not wish to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media, said prima facie the problem was in the S-1 and S-2 coaches and it concerned the wheels. LUCKNOW: The police of four districts — Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur, Jalaun and Auraiya — prepared a green corridor to rush people injured in the Indore-Patna Express derailment near Pukhrayan, about 100 km southwest of Kanpur, on Sunday.

Nearly 100 ambulances transported more than 300 injured people from the accident site.

“We got the call about the accident around 3.30am. Within half an hour, 27 ambulances of the 108 service and 25 ambulances of the 102 service reached the accident spot. We shifted 312 patients to hospitals in Jalaun, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur city and Auraiya districts,” said Ajay Yadav, spokesperson for the 108 and 102 ambulance services.

“The wheel apparently became immovable. As a result the coaches derailed one by one,” they said.

“The way the coaches have derailed on the side and climbed onto each other points to this theory. The railways have begun a preliminary inquiry into the accident and the picture will be clear after that,” they added.