According to Railways data, six people died and several were injured after nine bogies of Jogbani-Anand Vihar Seemanchal Express derailed due to a rail fracture in Bihar’s Vaishali district.
The accident took place when the Jogbani-Anand Vihar Seemanchal Express crossed Mehnar Road and when nine coaches, including an AC coach, derailed near Sahdei-Buzurg Railway Station that falls under Vaishali district at 3.58 am on Sunday.
One general coach, one AC coach B3, three sleeper coaches – S8, S9, S10 – and four more coaches derailed, East Central Railway spokesperson Rajesh Kumar said.
The Ministry of Railways announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of those who lost their lives, Rs 1 lakh to the grievously injured and Rs 50,000 to those who suffered simple injuries in the accident. All medical expenses will also be born by the Railways, the ministry said in its tweet. Instant cash was also distributed to the injured after verification to ensure relief.
Railways would give ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of every deceased. Rs 1 lakh would be given to the grievously injured and Rs 50,000 to those who suffered simple injuries. All medical expenses will also be born by Railways #SeemachalExpress
— Piyush Goyal Office (@PiyushGoyalOffc) February 3, 2019
According to a list issued by the Railways, the deceased have been identified as Shamsuddin Alam (25), Ansar Alam (21) and Saeeda Khatun (45) – all belonging to Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal – and Indra Devi (65), Sudarshan Das (60) and Eelcha Devi (60), all hailing from Khagaria in Bihar.
Both survivors and local people felt that luck favoured passengers as the accident of that magnitude could have killed more people.
