Train accident near Kanpur in UP claims 120 lives, about 200 injured. Toll likely to go up - The India Saga

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Train accident near Kanpur in UP claims 120 lives, about 200 injured. Toll likely to go up

“In one of the worst train accidents in the country in recent past at least 120 passengers were killed and…

Train accident near Kanpur in UP claims 120 lives, about 200 injured. Toll likely to go up

“In one of the worst train accidents in the country in recent past at least 120 passengers were killed and another 200 were wounded when 14 coaches of Indore-Patna Express jumped tracks in Kanpur rural area in Uttar Pradesh in the early hours of Sunday.The derailment took place at about 3 a.m. when passengers were asleep and were jolted with a loud noise and the compartments smashing into one another and going topsy-turvy. It is suspected that rail fracture could have been the cause behind derailment of the train which was hurtling towards its destination Patna in speed. The accident site Pukhrawa was said to be about 80 kms from the industrial town of Kanpur which is also a big railway station and yard.  The disaster badly damaged four ordinary sleeper coaches in which hundreds of passengers were trapped, media reports said. As railway personnel assisted by those of army, NDRF and state police carried out the search and rescue operation, the number of casualties went on increasing. By Sunday night at least 120 bodies had been extricated out of the badly twisted and mangled coaches. Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said that it seems the cause of the accident is rail fracture. Member (Engineering) of the Railway Board will find out the cause of the mishap and action will be taken against those responsible, he said.

President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and other leaders have mourned the loss of lives in the train tragedy.Indian Railway is the fourth largest in the world and ferries nearly 20 million passengers daily across the country.”

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