انڈیا کے مغرابی بنگال میں ٹرین کا المناک حادثہ۔۔۔ 61 افراد ہلاک۔۔۔ ٹرین مخالف سمت سے آنے والی ترین

Hindustan Times -HORRIFIC Train ignored directions to stop, hit stationary train at West Bengal's Sainthia stationThere were frantic announcements on the public address system at Sainthia station, in West Bengal's Birbhum district at around 2 am on Monday.

“The announcer was telling people on Platform Number 4 to get out,“ said Sabyasachi Mukherjee, a Class XII student who was on the platform. “There was a train standing on the track and the announcer kept exhorting people in it to leave as well.“

Not many heard. At that hour, most passengers in the stationery train -the Vananchal Express travelling from Bhagalpur to Ranchi -were asleep.

The reason for the announcements became clear minutes later. The Kolkata-bound Uttarbanga Express from Coochbehar came rushing in at 90 km an hour -unable or unwilling to stop -and rammed the Vananchal, hitting it so hard that one whole bogie was flung into the air, landing on a footbridge overhead.

At least 61 people were killed and more than 150 injured in the second horrific accident in West Bengal in less than two months. (On May 28, 148 people were killed after the Jnaneshwari Express derailed.

The derailment was caused after Maoists allegedly removed a section of the track.) In all, 15 rail accidents have occurred since Mamata Banerjee took over in May last year.

“There will be a high-level enquiry into why the train was rushing at such a high speed,“ Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said.

However, Railway Board Chairman Vivek Sahay ruled out any mechanical failure. He also revealed that both the driver of the Uttarbanga Express and his assistant, had died in the crash.

Despite the early hour, local villagers jumped in to rescue those trapped in the coaches.

Drivers of vehicles waiting outside the station and railway employees on duty at the station also joined in. The first relief train arrived at 3.35 am.

Monday's accident emphasised the need for anti-collision devices (ACD) on all the 19,000 trains that ply across the country daily. They are currently used only on the Konkan railway and the Northeast Frontier Railway.