26 killed as train derails after Maoist attack in WB

AP Rescue workers gather at the scene of the train mishap in West Bengal, early Friday. Maoists blasted rail tracks in West Midnapore district, derailing the Gyaneshwari Express's 13 coaches, five of which were hit by a goods train, leaving 20 dead.

Maoists blasted rail tracks in West Midnapore district in the wee hours on Friday, derailing 13 coaches of a Mumbai-bound express train, five of which were hit by a goods train, leaving at least 26 dead and more than 150 others injured, the second attack on civilians by Naxals this month.

The South Eastern Railway said that 26 bodies were recovered and 150 injured taken out from the mangled coaches of the Mumbai-bound train.

Of the 26 bodies, 18 were taken to the Midnapore Hospital and eight to the Kharagpur State General Hospital, a SER spokesman said.

The spokesman said that death toll could go up as rescuers were cutting open the the derailed coaches.

The blast occurred at 1.30 am when the Howrah-Kurla Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Super Deluxe Express was running between Khemasoli and Sardiya stations, about 135 km from here, South Eastern Railway officials said.

“We suspect Maoist hand behind the blast,” Member (Traffic) Railway Board Vivek Sahai said, observing that the incident comes as Maoists are observing a ‘black week’

He said the driver of the train heard a loud explosion after which the train derailed. Railways are investigating if the tracks were tinkered with, he said.

Twenty of the bodies were extricated from the mangled coaches of the train after the 13 coaches derailed with five toppling over an adjacent track, Additional Superintendent of Police, Jhargram, Mukesh Kumar said.

Indian Air Force helicopters have been pressed into service at the accident spot and have airlifted some of the injured to hospitals.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is at the accident spot, said that the blast which caused the express train to derail took place on the first day today of the a four-day ‘black week’ called by the Maoists.

Ms. Banerjee said that a patrol engine had passed through the area half an hour earlier, but the timing of the blast proved disastrous with a portion of the line being blown away.

She announced Rs 5 lakh for the next of kin of each of the dead and Rs 1 lakh for the injured.

This is the second Maoist attack on civilians this month. Naxals had blown up a civilian bus in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on May 17, killing at least 36 people, including 12 Special Police Officers.

SER PRO Soumitra Majumdar said the train had 24 coaches. After the explosion, 13 including 10 sleeper coaches, derailed of which five were hit by the goods train coming on the opposite track.

An unreserved coach, the pantry car and luggage van also derailed, he said.

Relief officials used gas cutters to extricate trapped passengers and bodies from the mangled remains of the affected coaches. Passengers belongings lay strewn scattered on the tracks.

Angry passengers said the first signs of relief came only around 5 am, three-and-a-half hours after the incident.

Nine of the coaches which were not damaged in the blast took the injured and the other passengers to Kharagpur where they were admitted to hospital.

Anti-Maoist forces were at the spot and assisting the police and rescue personnel in extricating the bodies from four badly damaged sleeper coaches S-5, S-6, S-7 and S-8.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee has asked State Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta to immediately rush to Sardiha, the site of the accident.

“I have been asked by the Chief Minister to rush to the accident site with six special rescue teams and three mobile ambulances,” Mr. Dasgupta told PTI before leaving for the accident spot on Friday morning.

The State government would bear the treatment cost of the injured passengers, Chief Minister’s secretariat sources said.

“State government has already rushed preliminary rescue teams with doctors and ambulances and more will follow,” the sources said.

Senior railway officials including Railway Board Chairman S.S. Khurana and DG RPF rushed to the spot.

A relief train left Kharagpur with a team of 12 doctors and 20 paramedics as also two doctors from the Kalaikunda airbase, the officials said.

Helplines have been set up at Kharagpur — (0322) 255751 and 255735 and Howrah — (033) 26382217, besides a toll free number 10722.

Helplines have also been set up at Tatanagar (0657) 2290324, 2290074, 2290382, at Rourkela (0661) 2511155, Chakradharpur (06587) 238072 and Jharsuguda (06445) 270977.

“The S-5 and S-6 coaches bore the maximum brunt of the impact,” Palash Ganti, a passenger, said.

Ganti, who was travelling in the B1 coach, said when he looked out of the window he found that half of the coaches had derailed and a goods train on the opposite tracks hitting them.

“At first, we thought Maoists have attacked to loot the train. When the accident happened no RPF personnel were present on the train,” said another passenger.