Negligence may have caused train disaster, says railways
muzaffarnagar — Authorities on Sunday registered a criminal complaint against unknown people for mischief and causing deaths by negligence and began a probe into the Saturday train accident in Uttar Pradesh amid varying casualty figures.
Mohd Jamshed from the Railway Board told the media in New Delhi that the disaster involving the Kalinga Utkal Express at Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar district claimed 20 lives and left 92 injured. Twenty-two of them were in critical condition.
But officials in Uttar Pradesh put the death toll at 24 and announced an end to rescue work. At least 156 people were injured, they said. The injured were being treated at medical facilities in Muzaffarnagar and Meerut.
In New Delhi, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said he had told the chairman of the Railway Board to fix responsibility for the disaster by Sunday evening on the strength of prima facie evidence. “Will not allow laxity in operations by the Board,” Prabhu tweeted.
Jamshed said the railways were probing the accident from all angles and a case had been registered by the railway police under relevant sections for “causing damage or destruction of railway properties, for mischief, for death by negligence, for causing grievous hurt, injuring lives by overlooking safety”.
He admitted that some maintenance work was under way at the accident site and safety authorities would look into possible sabotage and “if all precautions were taken” while the repair work was being conducted.
“Some track maintenance equipment (apparently left behind by repair workers) were found at the accident site. All these things will be investigated. Forensic help will be taken.”
A railway official requesting anonymity said it appeared that negligence was the prima facie reason that led to the tragedy. “Action against some senior officials is likely.”
The Kalinga Utkal Express was on its way from Puri in Odisha to Haridwar in Uttarakhand on Saturday when some of its coaches derailed at Khatauli. The accident was so severe that some of the derailed coaches mounted on others.
Railways spokesperson Anil Saxena said that a terror angle was not being been ruled out.
The railway staff was working to clear the derailed coaches and repair the damaged tracks as all trains on the route have been diverted. The operation to resume services on the track was expected to be completed by Sunday night.
A Home Department official said 90 ambulances and four teams of the National Disaster Relief Force were engaged in rescue work through the night but many relatives of the dead and injured complained of lack of ambulances to ferry the injured to hospitals. —