At least 34 passengers of the Dehradun-Varanasi Janata Express were killed and around 150 injured when four coaches derailed near Bachrawan station in Rae Bareli district on Friday.
The toll could increase as around 60 seriously injured passengers have been admitted to hospitals in Lucknow and Rae Bareli.
“The toll has mounted to 34. While 30 persons died in Rae Bareli, four were declared brought dead in Lucknow,” U.P. Minister Manoj Kumar Pandey said.
“There could be more deaths,” said Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Mahesh Gupta.
One of the coaches that derailed was a jam-packed general compartment, railway sources said. They said brake failure could have led to the derailment around 9.30 a.m. on the Lucknow-Rae Bareli-Pratapgarh section — which is around 50 km from Lucknow — that left two coaches severely mangled.
>From Rajdhani in 2003 to Gorakhdam in 2014, rail mishaps in India A chronology of 27 major train accidents in the country since 2000. | >What the numbers show about train derailments in India Contrary to popular notion, the number of train derailments have showed a downward trend. | >Why certain zones are prone to railway accidents Railway traffic has grown disproportionately to infrastructure, particularly railroads & routes. |
