නැගෙනහිර ඉන්දියාවේ බටහිර බෙංගාල ප්රාන්තයේ සිදුවූ දුම්රිය අනතුරකින් පුද්ගලයින් 15 දෙනෙකු මියගොස් තවත් 60 දෙනෙකු පමණ තුවාල ලබා තිබේ.
සඳුදා උදෑසන නව ජල්පයිගුරි ප්රදේශයේදී භාණ්ඩ දුම්රියක් නවතා තිබූ මගී දුම්රියක් වන කන්චෙන්ජුන්ගා සීඝ්රගාමී දුම්රියේ ගැටීමෙන් මෙම අනතුර සිදු විය.
Fifteen people have died and around 60 have been injured in a train crash in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. The accident occurred when a goods train hit a stationary passenger train, the Kanchenjungha Express, in the New Jalpaiguri area on Monday morning.
Dramatic visuals from the accident site showed one wagon of the express train suspended in the air.
Authorities say “human error” may have led to the crash and a detailed investigation will be held.
India has one of the largest train networks in the world with millions of passengers using it daily, but a lot of the railway infrastructure needs to be improved or upgraded.
Officials said ambulances and disaster teams were sent to the accident site for rescue efforts soon after the accident at 08:55 local time (03:25 GMT).
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed shock and said action was being taken on a “war footing”.
The dead include the driver and the assistant driver of the goods train and the guard of Kanchenjungha Express.
“Rescue operations have been completed,” Jaya Varma Sinha, CEO of the Railway Board, told a press conference.
The injured, she said, were being treated at a medical college in Siliguri city. “Our first priority is for them to get the best medical aid possible.”
The official said that human error seemed to be the likely cause of the accident. “As per initial investigation, it seems that the driver of the goods train disregarded the signal.”
She added that Kavach, an automatic train protection system developed by the Indian Railways, needed to be planned and expanded for West Bengal state.