Survivors desperately search damaged
carriages for relatives after 14 coaches rolled off track near Kanpur
By Agencies
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Rescue officials assess
the damage to one of the 14 carriages that derailed on
the Indore-Patna express
route. Photograph: Prabhat/Pacific/ Barcroft Images
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More than 100 people have been killed after
14 coaches of a passenger train rolled off the track in northern India on
Sunday, according to police.
About 150 more were injured in the
derailment, which occurred at around 3am near Purwa, a village near the
industrial city of Kanpur, as the express train travelled between the
north-eastern city of Patna and the central city of Indore.
Some coaches crumpled as they crashed into
others, trapping hundreds of people inside. It is one of India’s worst rail
disasters in years.
“The death toll has topped 100 now,” Daljit
Singh Chawdhary, the additional police director general, said.
Amid scenes of desperation and anguish,
survivors were looking for family members and some were also trying to enter
the damaged carriages to rescue relatives and collect belongings.
“We are using every tactic to save lives but
it’s very difficult to cut the metal carriages,” said senior railway official
Pratap Rai at the accident site.
The derailment could become India’s worst rail
tragedy since 2005, when a train was crushed by a rock and another plunged into
a river. More than 100 people were killed in each incident.
The country’s creaking railway system is the
world’s fourth largest, ferrying more than 20 million people each day, but it
has a poor safety record, with thousands of people dying in accidents every
year, including in frequent train derailments.
Suresh Prabhu, India’s railways minister,
said the government would immediately investigate the causes of the derailment
and promised accountability with the “strictest possible action” and
compensation for the affected passengers.
Authorities were checking if the air brakes
that would have prevented the disaster had failed, but added they would need to
look further before concluding the cause of the accident.
The crowded train, operated by the Indian
government, derailed in the early hours of Sunday when more than 500 passengers
were sleeping, survivors said.
TV footage showed badly mangled blue
carriages, and crowds of people and police on top of the wreckage searching for
survivors. One carriage was almost lying on its side, and appeared to have been
completely torn apart.
Rescue officials with yellow helmets were
working their way through the crowds, carrying victims from the wreckage as
teams struggled to remove the derailed wagons from the tracks, a main transport
artery in northern India.
“Suddenly I could feel that the carriage was
overturning. I immediately held the metal rod near the bathroom door,” said
Faizal Khan who was travelling with his wife and two children, all of whom
survived the accident.
Another survivor, Rajdeep Tanwar said. “I can
see bodies lying near the tracks, everyone is in a state of shock. There is no
water or food for us.”
The prime minister, Narendra Modi, has
promised to modernise India’s railways and build high-speed engines befitting
Asia’s third-largest economy.
Modi offered his condolences on Sunday:
Narendra Modi ✔ @narendramodi
Anguished beyond words on the loss of lives
due to the derailing of the Patna-Indore express. My thoughts are with the
bereaved families. Prayers with those injured in the tragic train accident.
I've spoken to @sureshpprabhu, who is personally monitoring the situation
closely.
Suresh Prabhu ✔ @sureshpprabhu
Rail Accident relief ,all rescue and relief
staff are working on the accident spot. Injured rushed to hospitals, instructed
best medical help.
By some estimates, the railways need 20tn
rupees ($293bn) of investment by 2020, and India is turning to partnerships
with private companies and seeking loans from other countries to modernise its
network. Last year, Japan agreed to provide $12bn of loans to build India’s
first high-speed train.
Train accidents are common in India, with
most occurring due to human error or ageing equipment. In 2012 a government
report said almost 15,000 people were killed every year on India’s railways,
describing the deaths as an annual “massacre”.
Modi’s government has pledged to invest
$137bn over five years to modernise the railways, making them safer, faster and
more efficient.
