8 dead, 32 injured as 2 passenger trains collide in Andhra Pradesh

At least eight people were killed and 32 injured after two trains collided on the HowrahChennai line in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday evening police saidA senior official of the East Coast Railway ECR said the Palasa passenger train hit the Rayagada passenger train from behind at Kankatapalli causing three coaches to derailAccording to the information provided by Vizianagaram Collector S Nagalakshmi 32 people were injuredA senior railway official said the injured were being shifted to hospitals in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram In a post on X Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government has announced exgratia payments for the victimsAll injured shifted to hospitals Exgratia compensation disbursement started Rs 10 Lakh in case of death Rs 2 Lakh towards grievous and Rs 50000 for minor injuries he said on the microblogging websiteExpressing shock over the incident Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy also instructed officials to pay an exgratia amount of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh each to the injured from the stateHe also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the kin of the deceased and Rs 50000 each for the injured from other states according to an official releaseDivisional Railway Manager Saurabh Prasad reached the site of the accidentThe total number of deceased is eight We are in the process of checking all the coaches Once that is done we will be able to ascertain the exact number We have sent 13 injured people to the government primary healthcare centre There may be some people with simple injuries Prasad told PTIHe further said they are in the process of separating the entangled coaches and would get a clearer picture once that is done We have received 32 injured passengers from the accident site and some of them are in a serious condition Besides some injured passengers have been admitted to other hospitals also Dr Anila Sunandini Superintendent of the Government General Hospital Vizianagaram told PTIThe chief public relations officer CPRO of the ECR said the accident took place between Alamanda and Kantakapalli in the VizianagaramKottavalasa railway section of the Waltair division of the East Coast Railway zone at about 7 pmThe official said train number 08532 VisakhapatnamPalasa passenger and 08504 VisakhapatnamRayagada passenger special were involved in the accident adding that the Rayagada passenger had overshot the signalTwo coaches of the VisakhapatnamPalasa passenger train from the rear and the locomotive of the VisakhapatnamRayagada passenger train got derailed the official addedRescue operations are underway with the DRM Waltair and his team on the spot Accident relief trains and other rescue equipment have been engaged the official saidThe PMO said on X that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in touch with the railway minister and all assistance is being provided to those affectednarendramodi spoke to Railway Minister Shri AshwiniVaishnaw and took stock of the situation in the wake of the unfortunate train derailment between Alamanda and Kantakapalle section Authorities are providing all possible assistance to those affected The Prime Minister extends condolences to the bereaved families and prays that the injured recover soon it saidVaishnaw said all passengers have been shifted from the accident spot Rescue operations are underway All passengers shifted narendramodi Ji reviewed the situation Spoke to the CM of Andhra Pradesh State govt and railway teams are working in close coordination he said on XReddy instructed officials to undertake rescue operations He asked them to arrange a sufficient number of ambulances to ferry the injured Andhra Pradesh minister Botcha Satyanarayana also reached the spot and is overseeing the rescue operationsSenior officials of Vizianagaram district are also at the site The rescue efforts are being hampered by the darkness Meanwhile the ECR has set up helplines Local administration and the National Disaster Response Force NDRF were informed seeking assistance and ambulances and accident relief trains have reached the site the officials saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever