According to officials, among the deceased were the loco and assistant loco pilot of the passenger train that was involved in the disaster, the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada train.
Four of the more than 50 persons hurt in the train accident at Kantakapalli in Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh, were listed as critically injured on Monday, according to officials. The death toll from the disaster has now reached 13.
According to officials, the loco and assistant loco pilot of the passenger train that was involved in the crash—the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada train—were among the dead. The pilots of the train headed for Rayagada did not stop even though the signal was red, they continued, adding that it “appears to be a classic case of human error.”
Authorities added that Railway Board chairman Jaya Varma Sinha and Railway Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw were keeping an eye on the situation from a war room. Other than the derailed and damaged coaches, others have been removed from the location, according to a post made by Vaishnaw on the social media site X.
Vaishnaw declared on Sunday that the relatives of the deceased would receive an ex-gratia of ₹10 lakh, the families of the severely injured ₹2.5 lakh apiece, and the families of the minorly injured ₹50,000.
The train headed for Rayagada collided with the Vishakhapatnam-Palasa train that was waiting on the track between the railway stations of Alamanda and Kantakpalli. The impact of the accident caused four of the second train’s bogies to derail onto the nearby track.
Before rescuers arrived on the scene, the collision destroyed electricity cables and left the region in complete darkness, hindering rescue efforts.
The tracks were blocked, resulting in at least 13 trains being canceled, rerouted, or ending.
Months prior, on June 2, at Odisha’s Bahanaga Bazar, there was India’s biggest train accident in twenty years, resulting in 288 fatalities and over 1,000 injuries due to malfunctioning connections in the automated signaling system. Before veering off the rails and colliding with another passenger train in the other direction, a passenger train struck a freight train that was halted.
This month, coaches operating the Delhi-Kamakhya Northeast Express derailed close to the Raghunathpur station in the Buxar region of Bihar, resulting in four fatalities and eighty injuries.
S Nagalakshmi, the district collector for Vizianagaram, stated that 10 of the 13 passengers who died have been identified thus far. He said that Andhra Pradesh was home to all of the deceased and injured. “As many as 32 of the injured are being treated at the Vizianagaram government hospital, and some of the more seriously injured have been transferred to corporate hospitals in Visakhapatnam.” It is reported that four of them have critical conditions.
On Monday, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy will visit the scene of the tragedy. He has declared that each family member of those murdered will receive an ex gratia of ₹10 lakh, while those injured will receive ₹2 lakh.
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