Rani Verma, 40, grieves the loss of her father-in-law in a train accident as she waits for his body outside a government mortuary in Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh state, July 11. (AP Photo)
Fatehpur (UP), July 11 (PTI): Thirty more bodies including that of two Swedish nationals w ere extricated on Monday from the mangled compartments of the ill-fated Delhi-bound Kalka Mail taking the the toll in Sunday’s derailment to 68. “Rescue and relief operations by the police, Army and National Disaster Response team are over. Sixty eight people were killed in the derailment in Malwan,” Special Director General of Police Brij Lal told reporters in Lucknow.
“Of the 68 killed, 46 have been identified and 19 bodies have been claimed by the kin of the victims,” he said. 14 women are among the dead. He said 249 people were injured in the accident of which 103 were admitted to the district hospital and private nursing homes in Fatehpur, 68 in Kanpur, 13 in Allahabad and 2 in Lucknow. “Rest of the 63 persons were discharged after first aid,” he added. Fatehpur Superintendent of Police Ram Bharose said two Swedish nationals were among the dead. They are Eric Anders Rurik (21) and Richer Carl Victor (22). Another Swedish national Ocar Hultman (22) was being treated for injuries.
H.C. Joshi, General Manager, North Central Railway, said the tracks will be cleared by Tuesday. Minister of State for Railways K.H. Muniappa, who met the injured at the district hospital in Fatehpur, refused to comment on the reasons for the train tragedy, saying it would be better to speak about them only after the completion of the high-level inquiry which has already been ordered. The derailment took place at 12.20 p.m. on Sunday when the packed train from Howrah reached near Malwan station, nearly 120 km from Lucknow. The train was moving at a speed of 108 km/hour. Rescue operations continued through the night to extricate the trapped passengers and bodies from the badly damaged AC and other compartments.
Major rail accidents in India since 1985
New Delhi, July 11 (AFP): The following are some of the most serious train accidents in India over the past 25 years. The worst accident on the nation’s massive rail network was in 1981 when a train plunged into a river in the eastern state of Bihar, killing up to 800 people.
Feb 23, 1985: Around 100 die when a train catches fire near Kolkata.
July 8, 1988: A train derails in the southern state of Kerala, claiming 105 lives.
April 16, 1990: A train catches fire near Patna, the capital of the eastern state of Bihar, leaving around 100 dead.
Aug 20, 1995: 305 die and 344 are injured in a collision between two trains in Ferozabad, near the northern town of Agra.
Sept 14, 1997: At least 100 die and more than 200 injured when 5 wagons fall into a river in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.
Nov 26, 1998: At least 209 die in a collision between two trains in Punjab.
Aug 2, 1999: 285 are killed and 312 injured in a collision between two trains in Gaisal in the eastern state of West Bengal.
Sept 10, 2002: 130 people die when the Rajdhani Express linking Kolkata to New Delhi plunges into a river in Rafiganj in the eastern state of Bihar.
Oct 29, 2005: At least 113 people die when a passenger train derails and topples into swirling floodwaters in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
May 28, 2010: At least 146 die in a derailment blamed on Maoist saboteurs in West Bengal. A Mumbai-bound high-speed passenger express from Kolkata veers off the tracks into the path of an oncoming freight train.
July 19, 2010: At least 63 die and more 160 are injured when an express train heading for Kolkata ploughs into the back of another train around 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Kolkata.
July 10, 2011: At least 68 die and 100 are injured after a packed express train, travelling from Kolkata to New Delhi, derails at high speed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
More than 100 people are injured when a passenger train derails in Assam, as the result of a suspected bomb attack by separatist rebels.
