Even as Chairman of Railway Board Ashwini Lohani was in Lucknow to inspect safety and other aspects of the Railways, three passengers were killed while a dozen others were injured when Patna-bound 12741 Vasco Da Gama Express derailed at Manikpur railway station of Chitrakoot district early Friday morning.
The state government handed over the probe to Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) to confirm whether the accident was part of any sabotage by subversive forces or merely an accident. A separate inquiry will also be conducted by Commissioner (Railway Safety).
The accident occurred at around 4.14am at platform number two of Manikpur station on Friday. Railway officials said that eight coaches from the engine were intact while two coaches suffered major damage.
Railway officials were quick to reach the spot along with rescue and medical relief train. A special train has also been sent to Manikpur to ferry stranded passengers to their destination.
Railway officials said that the derailment occurred at an inter-change point between North Central Railway and Western Railway. They further said that while fractured rail track was the most probable cause, by technical fault in coaches mightalso have led to the derailment.
The derailment caused the death of three passengers. The deceased were identified as Golu (6) and his father Deepak Patel (30) of Bettiah (Bihar) while the third could not be identified.
Of the injured, seven were admitted to CHC Manikpur and two to district hospital. The injured were identified as Rinki Kumar (24) of Goa, Abhishek (26) and Arvind Kumar (24) from Varanasi, Raneshwar (50) from Chappra (Bihar), Manjit Devi (22) from Samastipur, Indal Chauhan (24), Chandrashekhar (18) from Sonebhadra, Rajkumar Das (28) from Vaishali (Bihar) and Jai Kumar from Shillong (Meghalaya). Officials said most of the injured were out of danger. Meanwhile, train services on the route have been suspended. The trains were being diverted via alternate routes.
On Friday evening, Additional DG (Law and order) Anand Kumar told the media that Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has been asked to probe the Manikpur train accident.
‘’We will not take any chances and hence the ATS has been asked to probe whether there was any sabotage in the incident,’’ said Kumar.
Railways have announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the deceased, Rs 1 lakh to critically injured and Rs 50,000 to those with minor injuries.
Expressing grief on the death of three passengers in the derailment, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered all medical facilities to the injured passengers. He also announced a compensation of Rs two lakh each to families of the deceased, Rs 50,000 to those with grievous injuries and Rs 25,000 to passengers with minor injuries.