At least 7 killed, 45 injured as Bikaner-Guwahati Express derails in Bengal

TIL Desk/National/Jalpaiguri/ At least seven people were killed and more than 45 injured when 12 coaches of the Bikaner-Guwahati Express train derailed and some overturned near Domohani in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Thursday, an official said.

The accident occurred around 5 pm in an area under the Alipurduar division of Northeast Frontier Railway, an NFR spokesperson said in Guwahati. “Seven passengers have died so far. We recovered four bodies from the accident site while three people died in hospital,” Jalpaiguri District Magistrate Moumita Godara Basu said, adding at least 45 passengers were injured in the accident.

“Since some of them are in a critical condition, the death toll may go up. We are now using cranes for removing the damaged compartments,” she said, adding rescuers thoroughly searched each coach for survivors and bodies through darkness and thick fog. The injured are being treated at hospitals in Maynaguri and Jalpaiguri.

Commissioner, Railway Safety, will conduct an inquiry into the cause of the accident, a railway official said in New Delhi. The NFR said in a statement in Guwahati that the rescue operations have been completed. There were 1,053 passengers on board the train at the time of the derailment, it said, adding those stranded were provided drinking water and snacks. A train ferrying stranded passengers to Guwahati left the accident site at 9.30 pm and is expected to reach the Assam capital around 2 am on Friday, Special DGP (Law and Order) GP Singh said.