Vizianagaram train accident: Toll rises to 14; Jagan visits injured at hospital

Visakhapatnam: The number of casualties in the train accident on the Howrah-Chennai line in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh rose to 14 while 50 people were injured, superintendent of police M Deepika said on Monday.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy visited the hospital and interacted with the injured who were undergoing treatment in Vizianagaram.

Some of the victims are also currently receiving medical treatment in Visakhapatnam. Postmortems are being conducted on the deceased bodies, and rescue operations are still in progress at the accident site.

Though it was initially planned for CM to visit the accident site, at the request of the railway officials, CM Jagan will go directly to the hospital instead of inspecting the scene at the train accident spot. Officials said that the bogies involved in the accident were removed from the incident site and the track restoration work is being carried out on war footing.

Railway officials appealed that if the CM comes to the spot, there is a possibility that the track restoration work will be delayed. He did an aerial survey of the accident site.

The incident happened around 7 pm on Sunday, when the Palasa passenger train crashed into the Rayagada passenger train from behind at Kantakapalli, about 40 km from here, causing three coaches to derail. The locomotive pilots of Rayagada Passenger and a guard of the Palasa train also died in the accident.

Restoration work on war footing

The track restoration work near Kantakapalli in Vizianagaram district is being carried out with utmost urgency, as seven train carriages were crushed in the accident.

The track was restored within a short span of 19 hours, allowing for the resumption of train services. The first train passed on the down line, goods train, at 14:23hrs and the first train on the up line was the 18463 Bhubaneswar-KSR Bengaluru Prashanti express, which was admitted at 14:36hrs.

A huge crane has been brought from Visakhapatnam to remove the carriages, and relief operations are ongoing. Seven relief teams have been tirelessly working since last night to expedite the movement of the carriages and repair the tracks. In addition, 11 carriages from the Palasa passenger train have been relocated to Alamanda station, and nine carriages from the Rayagada passenger train have been moved to Kantakapalli station.

The relief operations have seen the active involvement of South Central Railway and East Coast Railway staff, as well as personnel from the NDRF, SDRF, RPF, and various other departments. Two ambulances have been stationed near the accident site for immediate medical assistance.

All the affected coaches have been looked into and the locomotive is being lifted now to see for a final round of checking by the NDRF if any bodies are still trapped inside the coaches or the locomotive or in the mangled mess. Five coaches plus the locomotive got mangled. Three coaches were of the train which was ahead (Palasa passenger) and two coaches and the locomotive were of the Rayagada passenger, the DRM Saurabh Prasad said.

General Manager of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) Manoj Sharma, along with senior officials, arrived at the accident site to review and support restoration activities. Assistance and support were also provided by the ECoR headquarters, Railway Board, and the state government. Relentless efforts were exerted by more than 1000 workers, staff, supervisors from various departments with usage of heavy duty 140 tonn cranes and more than 10 Excavators on mission mode for restoration of the train services in the mainline.

Four OHE masts, railway electrical infrastructure, have been damaged at the accident site, spanning all three lines.

Following the accident, several trains have either been cancelled, diverted or rescheduled by East Coast Railway and South Central Railway. Biswajit Sahu, chief public relations officer of the ECR, said that 11 people were killed and around 50 were injured in the incident.

Sahu had said train number 08532 (Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger) and 08504 (Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger special) were involved in the accident, adding that the Rayagada passenger had overshot the signal.