The rescue operation is underway where the coaches of Dibrugarh-Chandigarh Express derailed, in Gonda on July 19, 2024 as seen from above.
July 19 an official said “the death toll in the Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda has risen to four after a Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailment” and also “31 people were injured during this incident”.
On Thursday afternoon, eight coaches of the train derailed between Motiganj and Jhilahi railway stations which are about 150 km from state capital on Northeast Railway’s Gonda-Gorakhpur section.
Neha Sharma is the District Magistrate of Gonda who stated that so far four passengers died, while other 31 are injured. Out of all the injured individuals, about six are severely ill. According to Ms. Sharma, these were Rahul (38), Saroj Kumar Singh (31) and two unidentified persons; one of those unidentified was found dead on Friday morning.
“The bodies of these four have been brought here to district headquarters”, answered Sharma. She added that “they will undergo post-mortem examination once their relatives arrive”. Additionally, there have been orders for a magisterial inquiry into this matter.
According to an official statement given yesterday by her office, she noted that she was present at Mankapur Junction when a special train consisting of 600 passengers left Assam on board for Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express within hours after the accident had happened.
According to an official statement by him yesterday, she verified with few passengers if any co-passengers were missing among them. Furthermore according to her work is in progress to restore the rail track; soon it will be operational again too. On Friday morning she went straight away to district hospital and met patients admitted there as wounded. The chief medical superintendent should ensure proper treatment and care for those who have been hurt, she ordered. There is need for the chief medical officer and the district to take special care of such solo victims admitted from the train according to her as well.
Hospital reporters claimed that two critical injured passengers are being treated at Lucknow’s trauma center in addition to four patients each at both district hospital and railway ‘s empanelled hospital.
Railway Technical Team has reached late last night to collect samples from accident spot and incident site photographs while a high-level investigation into cause of derailment has been called for by a railway official. They are also trying to remove damaged bogies from track so that traffic can be restored soon.
Restoration work was done through the night using light provided by generator said railway official. He further added that since morning there have been about 800 employees engaged in the repair works.
According to officials, Saumya Mathur North East Railway General Manager is present at this moment keeping an eye on what is happening here.
Using JCB and crane damaged coaches were separated by gas cutter while work was going on retuning them back into their normal position. These include efforts to restore the rail track which was uprooted by the accident, railway officials said. The Gonda-Gorakhpur rail section is fully electrified. In fact during the mishap electric poles and wires were totally destroyed and are being reinstalled now according to them.
Ms. Mathur said, “Our effort is to ensure that the down line is restored at the earliest. The upline was restored for diesel (locomotives) last night itself.” On Thursday, the railway ministry said there would be a high-level inquiry and also investigation by the Commission of Railway Safety.
The ministry had also said an enhanced ex-gratia amount of ₹10 lakh will be given to the relatives of those killed. The grievously injured passengers will get ₹2.5 lakh and those with minor injuries ₹50,000.
