31 killed as flash floods derail 2 trains
HARDA/BHOPAL: Two passenger trains derailed overnight on Tuesday in Madhya Pradesh after flash floods set off by torrential rains weakened tracks over a swollen river, killing dozens of people in an accident that brought into focus the patchy safety record of India’s colonialera rail network.
Rescue workers used special cutting equipment to pull out some 300 trapped passengers after the Kamayani Express on its way to Varanasi from Mumbai slid off the tracks shortly before midnight near the town of Harda while the Janata Express travelling in the opposite direction to Mumbai from Patna crashed soon after.
“It was water all around in the coach. Within a few minutes, everyone around me was submerged in water. My daughter and son also vanished in the water. It was a terrifying experience,” said Basanti Kanade, a 68-year-old passenger from Bhopal.
By late Wednesday evening the bodies of those killed had begun to arrive at the Harda railway station where relatives waited. Manoj Mongi, who was on board the Kamayani Express, remembers being suddenly jolted out of his sleep. “I saw three women floating, but could not save them.” Television footage showed bogies smashed into each other and tilted into the river, while police personnel and villagers had clambered on top of the coaches lying on their side.
The operation was called off by evening because of darkness and inclement weather, while survivors recounted the midnight horror as the tracks caved, leaving a row of carriages lying on their sides in a field of mud.
India has the world’s fourth largest railway network that ferries more than 23 million passengers every day, but infrastructure is poorly maintained and accidents are common.
I lost my grandmother Genda bai, mother Sushila Bai, sister Ranu and aunt Sangita in the accident. Ghanshyam lost his wife Rajkumari Bai and two minor children, Ansh and Anshi, in the accident... We are in touch with the railway authorities JITENDRA, who lost his grandmother, mother, sister and aunt in the accident
JABALPUR: Nine members of a family from Umra village in district Narsinghpur died in the Janata express (13201) derailment near Harda late on Tuesday. Three others of the family are missing while one is undergoing treatment at a Harda hospital.
“They were going to Shirdi for Sai Baba darshan”, Manish Rajak, nephew of deceased Deepchand Rajak, said, adding that they are yet to come to term with it. The family members were travelling in the general coach of the Janata express train.
The dead have been identified as Deepchand Rajak, 40, Hira Bai, 35, Genda Bai, 65, Sushila Bai, 40, Ranu Bathre, 21, Sangita Bathre, 17, Ansh Bathre, 5, Anshi, 5 and Raj Kumari Rajak. Thirteen members of the family had boarded the Janata express from Shridham station in Madhya Pradesh. Ghanshyam Bathre of the family is, at present, undergoing treatment in a hospital at Harda. Jitendra said, “I lost my grandmother Genda bai, mother Sushila Bai, sister Ranu and aunt Sangita in the accident. Ghanshyam lost his wife Rajkumari Bai and two minor children, Ansh and Anshi, in the accident.”
“We are in touch with the railway authorities for details of those missing, he said.