Train derails in northern India
The death toll from India’s worst train accident in years rose to 146 on Monday after rescuers used cranes to lift the last of the twisted metal wreckage to check for bodies underneath.
About 2,000 workers were clearing the tracks and checking for damage to the rail line in hopes of resuming traffic through one of India’s busiest railway junctions by Monday evening, railway official Amit Kumar said. The government called for an investigation into what caused the accident, promising to punish anyone found responsible.
The passenger train was about midway through a 27-hour journey between the cities of Indore and Patna when it slid off the tracks at 3:10 a.m. Sunday. The impact was so strong that one of the coaches landed atop another, crushing the one below. Passengers were flung from their beds.
“I heard a loud noise,” passenger Satish Mishra said. “The train then sped up, and all the coaches derailed.”
Rescue workers, soldiers and members of India’s disaster management force pulled out people trapped inside the twisted metal and overturned coaches near Pukhrayan, a village outside Kanpur about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of New Delhi.
They used cutting torches to pry open cars and cranes to lift coaches from the tracks, moving carefully to avoid injuring those trapped inside. By Monday afternoon, they had lifted the last of the 14 wrecked cars from the tracks, finding no more bodies beneath.
The accident killed at least 146, according to state official Debasish Panda. Doctors said 116 of the victims had been identified. (AP)
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