5 dead as Bengaluru-Ernakulam train derails

Agencies

Bengaluru, 13 Feb 2015: Nearly 100 passengers are feared injured after the Ernakulam-bound train from Bengaluru toppled near Belagondapalli village, near Hosur on Friday.

 

In an early morning train accident near Bengaluru, five passengers have died and many injured after coaches of Ernakulam-bound Bengaluru City-Ernakulam Intercity express (Train no. 12677) derailed on the city’s outskirts.

 

The accident has been reported at Belagondapalli near Anekal town on the city’s outskirts around 7.35 a.m.

 

Railway sources said that nine coaches derailed causing the accident. A senior railway official said, "Initial reports suggest a boulder may have fallen on the track."

 

Railway sources said that the three bodies have been removed from the coach and are yet to be identified. According to railway sources, D-7 and D-8 general compartment coaches are the worst affected and initial investigations reveal that the train may have come to an abrupt halt that has led to derailment of nine coaches.

 

Sources pointed out that the section between Anekal and Hosur was a slow section and was also a part of elephant corridor and hence trains moved slowly. However, the reasons could be established only after the technical team completed it’s probe.

 

Meanwhile, many injured, numbers that are still not known clearly, have been rushed to the nearby Narayana Hrudayalaya on Hosur Road, near Electronic City.

 

 

Heavy equipment are being summoned from Erode to remove the mangled remains on Anekal road and Hosur line of the Bengaluru-Salem section. The accident site is about 15 km from Tamil Nadu border.

 

Ernakulam Area Manager of Southern Railway Rajesh Chandran said that the names and addresses of the victims are yet to be ascertained.

 

Helpline numbers

- Bengaluru: 080-22371166, 080-22156553 and 080-22154554

- Palakkad: 0491-2556198 and 0491-2555231

- Thiruvananthapuram: 0471-23221205, 0471-2321237 and 09746769960

- Ernakulam Junction: 0484-2100317, 0813699773 and 09539336040

- Ernakulam Town: 0484-2398200

- Thrissur:0487-2424148, 0487-2430060

- Aluva:0484-2624143

- Mobile Nos: 9731666751

- At accident site: 9448090599

- Kerala Department of Non-resident Keralites’ Affairs have opened help lines in Bangalore – 080-25305090, Ernakulam - 0484-2371830/2371810 and Thiruvananthapuram -1800-425-3939 (Toll Free), 0471-2770522.

 

The Ernakulam-bound train, a daily train, left Bengaluru city railway station at 6.15 a.m.

 

About seven ambulances from Tamil Nadu and 10 from Karnataka have been dispatched to tackle the emergency situation.

 

The derailed coaches are D-8, D-9, D-10, D-11, two AC Chair Cars and two unreserved coaches, railway sources said. Unconfirmed reports say the locomotive of the train also caught fire and that the pantry car rammed into the adjacent D-8 coach.

 

Keralites depend mainly on the day train that reaches Ernakulam junction at 4.55 p.m. The fatalities and injures is reported more among those travelling in D-8 coach. Over 60 Keralites were in the coach and the train is mostly depended by those in the northern districts of Kerala for commuting.

 

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has asked the Minister for Power and Railways Aryadan Mohammed to rush to the spot. Mr. Mohammed, Malappuram collector K. Biju and Inspector General of Police (Ernakulam Range) Ajith Kumar have left for Bangalore. They will reach Bangalore by noon and leave for the accident site from there.

 

NORKA official in Bangalore Tresa Thomas is reaching the accident site. State government officials in Thiruvananthapuram can be reached on 0471-2331639 for assistance, an official release said.

 

Further reports are awaited.