3 dead and 40 injured in train accident at Duwada

June 12: The death toll reaches up to three in the train derailing of Nagercoil-Howrah superfast express near Vishakapatnam on Monday night. Forty persons are reported to be battling hard for their lives in the hospital. All the injured have been hailed to Bhubaneswar in Orissa.

The three deceased were identified as Veerandhra (61), M Prasad (51) and S Saien (35).

The mishap took place when 14 coaches of the 2659 DN Howrah-Nagercoil super fast express jumped off the tracks at Duwada, some 20 kms away from Visakhapatnam.

"There might have been more injuries, mostly minor in nature, but we are referring to those who had been hospitalized", East Coast Railway CPRO B K Mishra said on Tuesday morning.

The injured persons had been shifted to the King George Hospital and railway hospital.

The derailment occurred at a steep curve near Gopalpatnam, he said adding the cause of the mishap was under investigation.

Meanwhile a relief train from the railways has reached the spot with several imperative equipments, Mishra said.

A special train left here to bring back the stranded passengers from the Duvvada railway station as more than 600 passengers were boarding the train when the accident occurred.

However due to darkness and remote location of the site rescue operations were slow. The mishap place was much below the ground level and huge mounds of soil on either side of the track were making rescue operations more difficult.

Divisional Railway Manager Indra Ghosh also reached the spot.

The mishap has badly affected the mobility of railway traffic. The Howrah-Chennai trunk line was stopped as the down line has been obstructed. Mishra said the traffic had been reopened on the up line though several trains were running behind schedule.

“Many trains on the route had been stopped at various stations “he added.

A control room has been opened at Visakhapatnam to provide assistance on telephone. The telephone number of the control room is 0891-2575083.