Picture: ABP News
15 coaches derailed at 5:30 am on Wednesday.
According to ANI, Anil Saxena, Indian Railways Spox, said that as per preliminary reports, 15 coaches of the train derailed. The first 5 & last 3 coaches were intact.
Two of the coaches fell in a 'nehar' (canal), leading to fears of more injuries and even casualties.
Several got injured in the accident. The number of injured in the mishap has risen to 40 since early morning. The guard of the train also got wounded.
However, according to Javed Ahmed, the DGP of Uttar Pradesh, the incident is not as serious as the one that happened in Kanpur recently.
The DGP also informed that all the injured have been sent to nearby hospitals. Almost 13 people have been admitted until now.
A rescue team has been rushed to the spot immediately. Senior railway, district and police officials have rushed to the accident site for rescue and relief operations.
Helpline numbers have also been issued by the Ministry of Railways.
Ambulances have also been asked to come to the accident spot immediately.
Those critically injured were rushed to Akbarpur, the district headquarter of Kanpur (rural). The others injured were rushed to the Community Health Centre in Rura.
Following the accident, routes of at least 12 trains were diverted.
According to ANI, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu also expressed concern on the matter. He said:
- Personally monitoring the situation in wake of unfortunate derailment of Sealdah-Ajmer express near Kanpur.
- Have directed senior officials to reach the site immediately. Immediate medical help being provided to the injured.
- Thorough investigation will be carried out to ascertain the cause.
- Ex gratia will be paid to injured. All passengers are being provided with necessary assistance to ensure least inconvenience.
The cause of the derailment is not known yet. More details are awaited.
This is for the second time in the last 38 days that a train accident has occurred in Kanpur. Only last month, a train derailment accident was reported from Pukhrayan.
On 20 November 2016, the Indore-Patna express train derailed in the town of Pukhrayan near the city of Kanpur. Fourteen carriages were derailed and early reports had at least 120 people killed and over 260 injured.
(With inputs from IANS)