At least 15 people were killed and several more were injured when a freight train collided into the back of a stopped passenger train in the Indian state of West Bengal on Monday. The disaster was blamed by railway authorities to driver error.
Images of the pile-up, including one carriage that was left virtually vertical after the disaster and containers from the goods train scattered around, were shown by the media. This catastrophe occurred little over a year after a signaling malfunction resulted in one of the deadliest rail crashes in India.
Senior police officer Abhishek Roy told Reuters that fifteen bodies have been removed from the wrecked carriages in the accident scene in the eastern state of Darjeeling.
According to Roy, there were fifty-four injuries and rescue personnel from the police and national disaster response force were clearing debris from the overturned carriages.
Three passenger train carriages were forced off the tracks when the freight train collided with the Kanchanjunga Express, which was traveling from the northeastern state of Tripura to Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal.
One passenger train carriage was lifted by the force of the crash and lodged on the freight train’s top.
According to Jaya Varma Sinha, the director of the railway board that oversees the nationwide network, among the deceased were the guard on the passenger train and the driver of the freight train.
According to Sinha, the freight train driver ignored a signal, which led to the tragedy.
Authorities are attempting to resume traffic once the rescue operation was over, according to Sinha, and the damage was not as bad as first thought.
