Onlookers watch as National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescuers work at the site of a train collision, near Rangapani station, West Bengal state, India, 17 June 2024. EFE-EPA/DIPTENDU DUTTA
New Delhi, Jun 17 (EFE).- At least 15 people died and dozens were injured in the collision of a passenger train and a freight train in northeast India on Monday, officials said,
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescuers work at the site of a train collision, near Rangapani station, West Bengal state, India, 17 June 2024. EFE-EPA/DIPTENDU DUTTA
The accident occurred at approximately 8:50 am at a station in West Bengal state’s Darjeeling district, a very popular tourist destination in the northeast of the country especially during summer.
The Express train was traveling from the northeastern Indian state of Assam to the city of Kolkata in West Bengal.
“As of now we’ve recovered 15 bodies,” including the driver of one of the trains, Additional Superintendent of Darjeeling Police Abhishek Roy told EFE.
About 60 people were taken to hospitals for medical attention, out of which between 20 and 25 people remain hospitalized, the official added.
Rescue operations are still underway so authorities do not rule out the possibility of more people being trapped in some of the affected wagons.
The causes of the accident are unknown at the moment.
“Because the driver died, we do not have a way to actually know exactly what happened (…) seems there was a disregard of the signs, but we will know more after the inquiry,” the chairperson and CEO of the Railway Board, Jaya Varma Sinha, told the media.
“The assistant conductor of the goods train and the guard of the Kanchenjunga Express passenger train died in the incident,” she added.
The section where the accident occurred is a high-traffic route along which signals are operated automatically for several parallel lines, which leads to frequent train jams, according to witnesses and local media.
Images broadcast by television channels show one of the wagons of the train suspended in the air, and other wagons and cargo containers destroyed or derailed after the collision.
“The railway accident in West Bengal is saddening. Condolences to those who lost their loved ones. I pray that the injured recover at the earliest. Spoke to officials and took stock of the situation. Rescue operations are underway to assist the affected,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X.
The Asian country, which has the fourth largest railway network in the world, recorded 2,017 incidents with derailment as the most common cause between April 2017 and March 2021, according to a recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). EFE
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