Imran\, Sirisena express grief over death of 59 people in Amritsar train tragedy

Imran, Sirisena express grief over death of 59 people in Amritsar train tragedy

Press Trust of India  |  Islamabad/Colombo 

and Sri Lankan Saturday expressed grief over the death of 59 people, run over by a train during Dussehra celebrations in Amritsar,

"Condolences go to the families of the deceased," he tweeted.

At least 59 people were killed and 72 injured Friday evening after a crowd of Dussehra revellers that had spilled onto railway tracks while watching burning of Ravana effigy was run over by a train.

The train was coming from Punjab's Jalandhar city when the accident occurred at Joda Phatak near Amritsar, where at least 300 people were watching 'Ravana dahan' at a ground adjacent to the tracks.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan also wrote to his Indian counterpart and extending his condolence over the incident.

"stands in solidarity with the people of at this time of difficulty and our thoughts and prayers are with those affected," said in his message to Kovind, according to release.

"The people of join me in extending heartfelt condolences to you," he said in his message to Modi.

Sri Lankan Ranil Wickremesinghe, who at present is in New Delhi, in his message to Modi said: "I am deeply saddened to hear about the tragic train accident in last night."

Forty of the 59 people killed in the accident have been identified and the bodies of 36 were cremated on Saturday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Sat, October 20 2018. 19:35 IST