At least five people were killed and more than 45 injured when 12 coaches of the Bikaner-Guwahati Express train derailed and some overturned near Domohani in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Thursday, an official said.
The accident occurred around 5 p.m. in an area under Alipurduar division of Northeast Frontier Railway, an NFR spokesperson said in Guwahati.”Five passengers have died so far. We recovered three bodies from the accident site while two people died in hospital,” Jalpaiguri District Magistrate Moumita Godara Basu said, adding at least 45 passengers were injured in the accident.”Since some of them are in a critical condition, the death toll may go up,” she said, adding rescuers were thoroughly searching each coach for survivors and bodies through darkness and thick fog.
The accident occurred around 5 p.m. in an area under Alipurduar division of Northeast Frontier Railway, an NFR spokesperson said in Guwahati, which is over 360 km from the scene of the tragedy.Commissioner, Railway Safety, will conduct an inquiry into the cause of the accident, a railway official said in New Delhi. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Railway Board Chairman and Director General (Safety) are also leaving for the accident site, the official said.
