Cuttack: In a tragic turn of events, the Mumbai-Bhubaneswar Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) Express derailed near Nergundi railway station in Cuttack Thursday injuring as many as 20 passengers, five of them critically.
The derailment occurred at around 6:45AM. Initial assessment suggests that about eight coaches of the express train collided with the guard van of a goods train between Salagaon and Nergundi, possibly due to the dense fog that has engulfed the city since the wee hours of the morning. Out of the eight coaches, five derailed while the other three were partially displaced off the tracks.
ECoR sources have so far estimated at least 20 passengers to be injured with no reports of any casualty.
R.D. Bajpai, Director Media, Railway Ministry, said in Delhi: “Eight coaches of Bhubaneshwar-Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Express derailed after it hit the guard van of the goods train near Salagaon at 6.45AM.”
Fire services personnel and medical professionals rushed to the spot to carry out a rescue operation. While the injured passengers were shifted to a local hospital, the five critically injured have been moved to SCB Medical College and Hospital.
The five critically injured have been identified as Jitendra Padhi, Puspanjali Jatwar, Purnachandra Nayak, Sarat Chandra Behera and Aswini Kumar Lenka.
While there was ‘heavy fog’ at the site, the exact cause of the accident would be ascertained only after a thorough inquiry.
Indian Railways were notified of the mishap through a tweet by passenger Prabhu Tripathy, who had occupied seat No 26 of the B1 coach.
“12879 train derailed and few passengers are injured..Kindly rescue immediately, Coach no B1,Seat no -26 @RailMinIndia @PiyushGoyal @Naveen_Odisha,” wrote Tripathy.
12879 train derailed and few passengers are injured..Kindly rescue immediately, Coach no B1,Seat no -26 @RailMinIndia @PiyushGoyal @Naveen_Odisha
— Prabhu Tripathy (@prabhu_tripathy) January 16, 2020
“@DRMKhurdaroad SOS Please send help to rescue passengers from train 12897,Coach B1 passengers,” he added.
Indian Railways Seva quickly responded by assuring that all concerned departments were being notified of the accident.
“Sir, we are concerned and getting in contact with all the concerned for necessary assistance. @Drmkhurdaroad,” Indian Railways Seva responded.
Following the accident, the traffic on the route has been hampered. Work of restoration of rail traffic has started.
The ECoR has issued helpline numbers 0671-1072 (Cuttack), 0674-1072 (Khurda Road), 18003457401/402 (Bhubaneswar headquarters), 0674-1072 (Bhubaneswar station) and 06752-1072 (Puri) for information on the accident and injured passengers.
PNN