Utkal Express derailment: 'Work was being carried out on tracks, probe on'

Investigators were on Sunday looking into what caused one of the deadliest train accidents in recent times as rescue operations continued, checking to see if there were people still trapped in the mangled coaches of the Utkal Express that derailed on Saturday. (Photos: AP)

The railway ministry said 21 people were killed and 97 injured, 26 of them grievously, in the accident near Khatauli in western Uttar Pradesh.

Senior Superintendent of Police Anant Deo told IANS that 22 people had died: 20 in Muzaffarnagar district and one each in hospitals in Ghaziabad and Meerut where they had been taken by their families. All but two of them were identified. Over 150 injured were being treated in Muzaffarnagar and Meerut. (AP Photo)

The Kalinga Utkal Express was on its way from Puri in Odisha to Haridwar in Uttarakhand when 14 coaches derailed at Khatauli. The accident was so severe that some of the derailed coaches mounted on others. (AP Photo)

The railways have deployed high-tech cranes and scores of workers to clear the tracks near Khatauli. Two 140-tonne cranes were being used from early morning today to clear derailed coaches, from which survivors had been rescued and bodies pulled out till late last night.

"The train had 23 coaches out of which 13 had derailed. It was running at a speed of about 100 kmph when the accident took place," said Delhi Division DRM, R N Singh.

To worsen the situation, the local railway station manager claimed he had no idea of the work being carried out on the tracks. In the process, the train driver was not alerted to the danger. (AP Photo)

The official said authorities would look into possible sabotage and whether "all precautions were taken" while the repair work was on. (AP Photo)

He said the railways were probing the disaster from all angles and a case had been registered for "causing damage or destruction of railway properties, for mischief, for death by negligence, for causing grievous hurt, injuring lives by overlooking safety". (AP Photo)

Soon after Prabhu's tweet about meeting the prime minister, the government announced the appointment of Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani as chairman of the Railway Board. Mittal has been replaced by Air India CMD Ashwini Lohani as the new chairman of the railway board.

Trains passing through the Meerut line of the Northern Railway have either been cancelled or diverted till 6 pm today, a senior railway official said.

The injured have been taken to hospitals in Muzaffarnagar and Meerut and both the Railways and the local administration have issued helplines.

Six of the derailed coaches were severely damaged. A posse of security personnel from the UP Police, the RPF, PAC and RRF has been deployed at the site of the accident since last evening.

Minister Prabhu has directed senior officials and medical personnel to provide assistance to injured passengers and all possible help to the relatives of the affected passengers.

He said in less than three years as the railway minister, he had devoted his "blood and sweat" to the Railways. Photo: AFP