Train plows into crowd at India festival; at least 58 dead, 50 injured
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, said the state governing Congress party politician, Pratap Singh Bajwa.
Police Commissioner S.S. Srivastava said the police have found 58 bodies so far.
The Press Trust of India news agency said two trains arrived from the opposite direction on separate tracks at the same time, giving little opportunity for people to escape. However, the casualties were caused by one of the trains, it quoted officials as saying.
A witness said the train didn’t sound its whistle as it sped past the site, where hundreds were watching the burning of an effigy of demon Ravana during the Hindu festival of Dussehra.
“Why did authorities allow the fireworks display so close to the railroad track?” he asked.
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 railroad authorities are alerted to run the trains at slow speeds.
A large number of people live in the area with homes on both sides of the railroad track, she said.
However, junior Railways Minisfter Manoj Sinha said after visiting the accident site that organizers did not alert railroad authorities about their plan to hold a religious function there.
Following the accident, people rushed to the site and shouted at railway officials for not taking precautions. At least 50 injured were admitted to a governmentrun hospital, the Press Trust of India quoted Rajesh Sharma, a magistrate, as saying.