Another major train accident in the country: 13 deaths, is this the reason for the accident?
Visakhapatnam: The death toll in the collision between two trains in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday evening has increased to 13. While 50 other people were injured. A police officer gave this information. An East Coast Railway zone official said Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger (train number 08532) and Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger (train number 08504) collided with each other. Three coaches were damaged in the incident.
Vizianagaram SP Deepika has informed that so far 13 people have died in the Andhra Pradesh train accident, out of which 7 have been identified, the process of identifying the remaining bodies is going on.
The East Coast Railway on Sunday said the train accident in Vizianagaram district on the Howrah-Chennai route may have been caused by human error and ignoring signals.
East Coast Railway CPRO Biswajit Sahu said the probable cause of the accident could be human error and ‘overshooting’ of signal by the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train. Regarding overshooting, the CPRO said that this happens when a train moves forward instead of stopping at a red signal.
Divisional Railway Manager Saurabh Prasad reached the spot and rescue operations are in full swing. The local administration and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were informed and sought assistance and ambulances and disaster relief trains reached the spot, the official said.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy expressed grief over the incident and directed the concerned authorities to carry out rescue operations. He asked officials to arrange adequate number of ambulances to transport the injured.
Reddy expressed grief over the train accident at Kantakapalli in Vizianagaram district and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh each to the injured. Rs 50,000 will be given to the injured from other states.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav called the Chief Minister on the accident. The Chief Minister told him that rescue teams have been sent to the accident site and Education Minister B. Satyanarayana, District Collector and Superintendent of Police are monitoring the relief and rescue operations.
