Over 50 injured as passenger train derails in Assam

JAGIROAD16-04-2014The derailed bogies of the BG Express (Train No.15666) at Ajuri station near Morigaon district in central Assam early on Wednesday, 16 April 2014. Over 50 passengers were injured, 19 of them seriously, when the engine and 10 coaches of the Dimapur-Kamakhya BG Express derailed in central Assam in the wee hours. The derailment damaged 100 meters of railway line leading to cancellation of eight trains on the route.PHOTO: RITU_RAJ_KONWAR - caption

Over 50 passengers, 17 of them seriously, were injured when the engine and nine coaches of Guwahati bound 15666 B.G. Express were derailed near Jaigroad in central Assam’s Morigaon district around 2.15 a.m. in the small hours of Wednesday.

The Dimpur-Kamakhya train with about 700 passengers originated at Dimapur railway station in Nagaland.

Public Relations Officer (PRO), Northeast Frontier Railway Nripen Bhattacharyya told The Hindu that of the nine derailed coaches, four coaches capsized in a ditch near the track.

About 200-metre stretch of the track was damaged. The track restoration work had been going on war footing and the section would be cleared for train movement once the damaged track was completely restored, he said. The PRO said that a probe by the Commissioner of Railway Safety would be ordered into the mishap.

Police said that local residents helped police and rescue teams of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) in the rescue operation.

Till Wednesday afternoon efforts were on to put the engine back on the rails and repair the damaged portion of the track.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded in Guwahati railway station and different railway stations in as the N.F. Railway authorities cancelled several passenger trains due to track repairing work.