UP train mishap: Death toll rises to 68, rescue operations on

Zafar Irshad
Fatehpur (UP), Jul 11 (PTI) The death toll in Sunday's
derailment of Delhi-bound Kalka Mail here in the north Indian
state Uttar Pradesh rose to 68 Monday with rescuers pulling
out 30 more bodies, including that of two Swedish nationals,
from the mangled compartments of the ill-fated train.
259 people were injured in the incident and they have
admitted to various hospitals in this district in Uttar
Pradesh and in Kanpur even as rescuers pulled out more people
from the train.
"68 bodies have been recovered so far. 259 people are
undergoing treatment at a hospital here," Fatehpur
Superintendent of Police Ram Bharose said. The deceased
include 14 women.
Sandeep Mathur, Chief Public Relations Officer of
North Central Railway, said in Allahabad that two Swedish
nationals were among the dead.
While one Swedish national has been identified as Wick
from the statement of his injured compatriot Oscar, who was
also travelling with him, the identity of the other is yet to
be ascertained.
The derailment took place at 12.20 PM (IST) Sunday
when the packed train from Howrah reached near Malwa station,
nearly 120 kms from Lucknow. The train was moving at a speed
of 108 km/hour.
Rescue operations continued through the night to
extricate the trapped passengers and bodies from the badly
damaged AC and other compartments.
A special train that left Kanpur carrying 167
passengers of the ill-fated train reached New Delhi this
morning.
Over 24 hours after the incident, Railway authorities
are yet to ascertain the exact cause of the worst-ever
accident this year.
At the accident site, Railway Board Chairman Vinay
Mittal said by Tuesday morning, the Howrah-Delhi route should
be cleared off.
He said an inquiry by the Chief Commissioner of
Railway Safety (Lucknow) Prashant Kumar has been ordered into
the incident.
Mittal said there was no fault in the track and the
cabinman had told him that when the train was close to pole
number 927/23, its engine started shaking and emitting smoke,
after which the mishap took place.
Railway officials said that the work of clearing the
tracks at Malwa, the accident site, was in full swing.
Out of the 63 bodies, only 21 have been identified,
Bharose said.
According to preliminary investigations, the signals
were functioning normally and the fish plates on the tracks
were intact, Mittal said.
While some of the bogies had toppled, others were
turned into a mangled heap of metal. Gas cutters and other
equipment were used to slice through the metal in the AC and
other coaches to rescue the trapped passengers.