Sir john Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 32 die as TN Express coach catches fire Officials have retrieved 32 charred bodies from the S-11 coach of the Chennai-bound 12622 Tamil Nadu Express, which caught fire at 4.14 a.m., on Monday. The mishap occurred between Nellore and Vedayapalem railway stations on the Vijayawada-Gudur Section of Vijayawada Division. The train was just over a kilometre from the Nellore station when flames leaped out of the coach. A passenger pulled the chain and halted the train. There was no damage to the rest of the superfast train. Police arrived on the spot within a few minutes and started rescue operations. Fire tenders were pressed into service, but the coach was burnt within no time. The fire was put out by 5.20 a.m., an official release said. The bogie was isolated and taken to platform no. 3 at the Nellore railway station. Rescue personnel used oxy-acytelane cutters to clear the bogie The coach had 72 passengers in all. While 25 of them were rushed to the Nellore District Hospital, some of them were admitted to Bollineni Superspecialty hospital. A dozen or more passengers were said to have jumped out of the moving train even before it came to a stop. Witnesses speak The passengers in the ill-fated coach were largely from Jaipur, Chennai and Vijayawada. Many passengers had boarded the coach from Vijayawada station. Y. Sampath (25), a software engineer at Syntel had boarded the train with his sister. "I woke up after hearing loud screams. All I could see was black smoke," he said while explaining the scene inside the coach. He managed to escape through one of the doors that was not locked. However, Sampath's sister, Y. Ashwini (23), is missing. She is also a software professional, who is working in TCS. Sambasiva Rao, a businessman, has been admitted to Nellore District Hospital with 80 per cent burns. His wife Jhansi Rao has reached Nellore learning about the accident. Ms Jhansi said, "My husband called me saying the bogie is burning. I rushed here immediately." Hailing from Gudiwada, Krishna District, the couple reside in Chennai. Another passenger Sukhadev Singh is also being treated for 80 per cent burns in the same hospital. Railways and police are in the process of identifying the victims. Some of the passengers who are undergoing treatment at the District Hospital are: Verma (Raghav Nagar); Venkata Koteshwara Rao, (Vijayawada) Hussain (Tirunelveli), Raghavan (Chennai), K.K. Sunil Kumar (Delhi), Harsha (Chennai) and Sandeep Agnihotri (Jaipur). District Collector B. Sridhar, Superintendent of Police B.V. Ramana Kumar and railway officials were at the spot, monitoring the operations. Though the reason for the fire has not been officially confirmed, sources blamed a short circuit inside the coach. Railways has set up the following helpline numbers. Secunderabad 040-27786723/27700868/27786539, Nellore 0861-2345863/2345864/2345866. Vijayawada 0866-2576924/2575038/2576796/25761072 and Warangal 0870-2426232/097013-37106. The railways has announced an enhanced ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lakh to the kin of each passenger who died in the mishap. Normal train traffic on the Nellore-Gudur section was restored by 8.30 a.m. and all trains on the section were said to be running on schedule. Rajulapudi Srinias reports from Vijayawada: Special teams comprising TTEs, and officers from engineering, commercial, security, electrical and other wings were deputed to Nellore railway station for taking up relief operations for the injured passengers. Assistant DRM Subba Rao was monitoring the situation from Vijayawada. 29 killed, 45 injured in mishap in Bhiwani At least 29 persons, including 10 women and 3 children, were killed and 45 others injured this morning when the vehicle in which they were travelling collided head-on with a truck in Bhiwani area of this district. The victims were returning to Kalayat in Jind from Rajasthan after paying obeisance at a temple there, police said. The injured have been admitted to various hospitals in Hisar and some of them who are critical were referred to the PGIMS at Rohtak, they said. The pilgrims in the ill-fated Tata 407 (truck) belonged to Kalayat in Jind district and some villages in Kaithal, BhiwaniÃÔ Superintendent of Police, Satish Balan said. They were returning from Amarpura village near Rajgarh-Churu, Rajasthan, after paying obeisance at Ghuga Maari temple there. While 22 people were killed on the spot, others succumbed to injuries while being taken to hospitals and a few upon reaching there. Eyewitness accounts said the ill-fated truck was packed with pilgrims, with wooden planks kept to accommodate them in two rows. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Leader of Opposition, Om Prakash Chautala have expressed their grief and sorrow over the heavy loss of life in the road mishap. Meanwhile, in view of the accident, Hooda cancelled his programmes at Kurukshetra and rushed to Hisar, official sources said.
mhr123 Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 very sad news ... hard to know why are we yet to install firefighting equipments on train ...
gs Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 RIP victims. Now I'd like to know what safety measures would be undertaken to prevent such incidents dont occur in future.
Desi Cartman Posted July 30, 2012 Posted July 30, 2012 RIP victims. Now I'd like to know what safety measures would be undertaken to prevent such incidents dont occur in future. It will be announced for sure, tenders will be issued and the one with the biggest bribe will win. Few years later someone will disclose that rail mantry made trillions just installing sub standard fire extingisher. Govt will use CBI to inquire and clear the netas. Thats how things get handled, else some action would have already been taken on people responsible for the accident but trains have been colliding for years but still no one is responsible or answerable so I dont know what chance these accidents have.
ganeshran Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 I have traveled a lot by Tamilnadu express :nervous: RIP
The Dark Horse Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 :( RIP. Apparently people didn't know where the emergency exit was or the exits were locked with many people trying to go. And there are rumours that a TTR heard the sound of a bomb blast.
vvvslaxman Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 RIP. Commiserations to all the family whose lives were shattered with this news.
Crookbond Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 Let us bar more ministers for increasing the railway ticket price by 50p for 25 kms. :facepalm:
beetle Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 RIP. This is a nightmare come true. Indian lives are so cheap. Why don't our politicians ever die in such accidents?
Crookbond Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 RIP. This is a nightmare come true. Indian lives are so cheap. Why don't our politicians ever die in such accidents? Because they don't travel by "aam aadmi" transport. It's VVIP support for them.
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