At least 23 people have died and over 100 got injured after an express train derailed in India's Southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The incident took place around 11 PM on 21 January.
Rescue teams were immediately rushed to the spot and they are pulling out victims from the coaches since then. However, East Coast Railways spokesman J. P. Mishra did not disclose the cause of the derailment.
What we know about the incident till now:
- The accident happened when the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar express was on its way to Bhubaneswar from Jagdalpur. The mishap happened in Andhra Pradesh's Vizianagaram district.
- Seven coaches out of 22 coaches and the engine of the train derailed near Kuneru station. " Besides the engine, the luggage van, two general coaches, two sleeper coaches, one AC three tier coach and an AC two tier coach derailed," said Mishra, according to PTI.
- Officers fear that the death toll can go up to 100 as several people are still trapped in the derailed coaches. The injured have been admitted to two nearby hospitals.
- The rescue operations are being carried by officials from the railway and local government. A team of doctors has also joined them.
- Following the incident, several trains on that route have been diverted. Buses have been arranged to take passengers towards Brahmapur, Palasa and Vizianagaram, free of cost.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to express his condolences toward the victims'' families.
Indian Railways is one of the world's largest networks, however, maintenance in the sector quite poor. In spite of the fact that a huge portion of the population depends on railways for long-distance travelling, funding is less and deadly accidents occur relatively frequently. Prime Minister Modi promised to invest US$137 billion over five years to modernise the country's railways, and make them safer as well as faster.
On November, 146 people were killed when a passenger train was derailed in Kanpur, in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
