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Indian train crash kills 102
(CNN)
Updated: 2005-10-30 16:20
At least 102 people died and 92 others were injured when a passenger train
derailed in southern India Saturday as it attempted to cross tracks washed away
by a flood, police said.
Rescuers try to
reach survivors in the seven coaches which ended submerged after the
crash. | The
incident occurred about 4:15 a.m. in the Andhra Pradesh state near the town of
Valigonda. Seven coaches of the 15-coach train remained in the water, and it was
not known how many people remained inside. Each coach has a capacity of about 60
people.
Rescue workers were using cranes to retrieve the coaches from the water, and
using acetylene torches to open them, authorities said.
The train was crossing a bridge flanking a reservoir when it derailed, as a
flood of water had washed the tracks away, said Krishnaiah Panabaka, chief
public relations officer for India's state-run South Central Railway.
Hundreds of rescue workers were at the scene, he said, and the railway
protection force was called in to assist. Also, the Indian Army, Navy and Air
Force were on scene. Conditions were difficult, Panabaka said. A series of
high-level Indian officials were also en route.
The train, the Repalle-Secunderabad Delta Fast Passenger, was en route from
Repalle to Secunderabad. Passengers on the train's other coaches were evacuated
in buses.
Andra Pradesh has been experiencing torrential rains after a slow-moving
tropical depression made landfall there on Friday. There have been reports of
other railway lines and roads washed away. The rain continued Saturday, adding
to the difficulty of rescue operations.
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