KHAGARIA (BIHAR): A speeding express train ran over devotees waiting on the tracks to stop it, leaving 37 people dead and triggering angry protests by locals who attacked the train driver and set on fire its coach besides engine of another train at Dhamara Ghat Station in Khagaria district on Monday.
The ‘kanwarias’ (devotees of Lord Shiva) were on the tracks after alighting from the Samastipur-Saharsa passenger when they were run over by the Saharsa-Patna Rajyarani Express travelling at 80 kmph, officials said.
Additional director general of police (ADG) law and order S K Bharadwaj said 37 pilgrims were killed in the incident.
A senior railway official also said that the toll could be around 35, but refused to be quoted.
Railway Board chairman Arunendra Kumar said the train was not supposed to halt at Dhamara Ghat and was given clearance to pass through the area but the devotees were on the tracks thinking they could stop the train.
Though the driver applied emergency brakes, it was too late by then, he said, adding an internal inquiry has been ordered into the incident.
The pilgrims were going to nearby Katyani Sthan temple to offer ‘jalabhishek’ to Lord Shiva on the fourth and final Monday of the holy month of Shrawan when the mishap took place.
Soon after the accident, local people attacked the train driver.
Superintendent of police SK Jha told PTI over phone that the engine of the Samastipur-Saharsa passenger train and an AC coach of Saharsa-Patna Rajyarani Express were set on fire by the enraged locals.
The two drivers of the express train, Rajaram Paswan and Sushil Kumar Suman, were traceless and their mobile phones switched off, ECR CPRO Amitabh Prabhakar said.
However, the Railway Board chairman said the driver was safe without specifying.
He said it was a case of trespassing as the pilgrims were illegally trying to cross the tracks.
Minister of state for railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the express was travelling at a speed of 80 km per hour when the accident occurred.
He said although relief trains carrying doctors and nurses were sent from Saharsha and Barauni, they could not reach the spot as the law and order situation there was not conducive because of protests by angry people.
There were no details available about the number of the injured, a railway official said.
According to sources, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has demanded that the families of the victims be given compensation.
However, the railway is not inclined for the same as those killed were illegally crossing the tracks, the sources said.
The Bihar chief minister expressed grief over the train accident and asked railway and Khagaria district administration to launch rescue and relief works to save lives of the injured people.
Khagaria MP Dinesh Chandra Yadav demanded that the families of the dead should be given Rs 10 lakh compensation each.
LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan said there were no proper facilities for treating the injured as there was no hospital nearby. (PTI)