Today, Railways put the death toll at 21 along with 97 passengers injured in the derailment near Khatauli in UP, of the Utkal Express. Out of the 97 injured persons, 26 passengers are critically injured at the same time as 71 have simple injuries, the railways supposed in a statement. Numerous injured person has been discharged following first aid. The injured passengers have been taken to many hospitals in Meerut as well as Muzaffarnagar. Fourteen coaches of the Utkal Express skipped the rails yesterday, , with one of them booming into a house nearby to the track near Khatauli in UP.
The affected rail path had been cleared plus traffic was restored by 7 pm, the railways alleged. Railways minister Suresh Prabhu alleged a query had been prepared for the accident that took place around 5.45pm. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath rushed two ministers to the accident point who were gazing into the rescue and relief operation. The accident took place around 5.45pm near Khatauli town, 40 km off Muzaffarnagar. Commissioner Saharanpur area, Deepak Agarwal, along with G S Priyadarshi, District Magistrate, Muzaffarnagar, had yesterday alleged 21 bodies were in the mortuary at the same time as another body of a woman was being pulled out.
The train was arriving from Puri in Odisha furthermore going to Haridwar in Uttarakhand, usually a journey of about 36 hours. The coaches smashed were S1 to S10 sleeper class, second AC A1 coach, third AC B1, along with the pantry.
Muzaffarnagar authorities have put up a control room to help families of those affected. The numbers are 0131- 2436918, 0131-2436564, and 0131-2436103.
A few trains have been diverted which include the Amritsar–Mumbai Central Golden Temple Mail, Amritssar–Bilaspur Chhatisgarh Express, the Jammu Tawi–Delhi Shalimar Express, the Katra–Anand Vihar Special, the Amritsar–Indore Express, along with the Allahabad–Udhampur Express. The Haridwar–Puri Utkal Kalinga Express, Ambala–Delhi Intercity Express, and the Jalandhar–New Delhi Intercity Express have been cancelled for today.
Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister, ordered an inquiry into the train derailment and he tweeted “Strict action will be taken adjacent to any lapse. “He added that “I am for myself monitoring the circumstances. Have instructed senior officers to arrive at the site instantly and guarantee speedy rescue plus relief operations.”
The minister has declared a compensation of $5,500 for the family of deceased passengers. On the other hand, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi supposed on Twitter he was upset by the accident of Utkal Express, offered pity to families of those killed, and wished a quick improvement to the injured.
Train accidents are frequent in India, where more than 22 million travellers use the rail system every day. Saturday’s mishap of Utkal Express is at least the fourth leading passenger train derailment this year as well as the third in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.
