Sunday’s derailment in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was India’s deadliest train tragedy since 2010. A lifeline for millions, the railways suffer from chronic underinvestment, which has left it with ageing tracks and outdated rolling stock. Rescue teams worked through the night with cranes and cutters to disentangle the train before police halted the search of the 14 carriages that derailed in the early hours.

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10:09

Hundreds of people were trapped after 14 carriages of the express train, travelling from Indore to Patna, crumpled into one another as they came off the tracks on Sunday. The train derailed near the village of Purwa, about 40 miles (65km) from Kanpur.

The crash occurred at about 3am when the majority of passengers were asleep. Most of the victims were in two carriages near the engine that overturned.

“The death toll has reached 120. At least 200 others are injured,” Zaki Ahmad, the police inspector general of Kanpur zone, told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

Ruby Gupta, who was travelling to the city of Azamgarh for her wedding, searched the wreckage for her father.

“I cannot find my father and I have been looking everywhere for him,” she told an NDTV reporter. “Some people told me to look in hospitals and in morgues, but I am clueless as to what to do.”

Gupta lost her wedding clothes, jewellery and belongings in the derailment, but her biggest worry was finding her father, who was going to give her away at the wedding in two weeks’ time. “I do not know if my marriage will go as planned or not,” she said. “I want to find my father now. I have tried calling everywhere, but I do not know what to do.”

Nearby, a young boy who had also been on the train waited near the scene, hoping his father would be found alive by rescue workers. “The whole train was shaking,” he said. “My sisters and brothers were there. I found them all. I just can’t find my father.”

One elderly male passenger said: “At about 3am, the train started shaking. Then I don’t know what happened. The carriage overturned. We were in coach five. We were trying to open the door of the coach, but it wouldn’t budge. Somehow we managed to get out. The goddess Kali has saved us, or else none of us would have survived.”

While some looked for missing relatives or luggage, others waited in surrounding fields as rescue workers searched the site for bodies.



A list of 67 people who died has been released, and police are expected to name more as bodies are identified. More than 200 injured people were given emergency medical help at the scene or taken to nearby hospitals.

Television footage showed the carriages lying overturned near the tracks as anxious crowds looked on, some with bandaged limbs.

Emergency services and ambulances took longer than usual to reach the site because the incident took place in a rural area.

Medical trains from the nearby city of Jhansi were dispatched in the relief effort and cranes were deployed to lift the crushed carriages. National Disaster Response Force and army units used gas cutters to try to find survivors on Sunday morning, as hopes of finding people alive dwindled.

Pratap Rai, a senior railway official, said: “We are using every tactic to save lives, but it’s very difficult to cut the metal carriages.”

The prime minister, Narendra Modi, said he was “anguished beyond words” and announced that victims’ families would receive 200,000 rupees (£2,400) as compensation. Injured people can claim 50,000 rupees from government relief funds.

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20/11/2016
10:42

At least 91 people were killed and scores injured when 14 cars of an express train derailed near the town of Pukhrayan in Uttar Pradesh in northern India, AFP reported, citing police.

Relief teams have rushed to the scene.

“The death toll has unfortunately increased and it is 91 now,” Daljit Singh Chawdhary, additional police director general of Uttar Pradesh state, said, as cited by AFP.



However, the death toll is expected to rise as the rescue operation is under way. All the hospitals in the area are mobilized to receive the injured.

The incident happened some 100 kilometers from the city of Kanpur, the second-largest industrial city in India, at about 3:00 a.m. local time, when most of the passengers were asleep.

It has not been made clear what caused the derailment. Indian Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu ordered that an inquiry be “immediately” opened into the circumstances of the derailment.

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