At least two people died and 12 injured after the engine and two coaches of Rajendra Nagar-Guwahati Capital Express derailed at Samuktala Road near Assam-West Bengal border on Tuesday night. The accident took place around 9.15 p.m.
The Capital Express train was scheduled from Bihar’s Rajendra Nagar to Guwahati in Assam. The derailment took place close to Samuktala Road Station in West Bengal’s Alipurduar district, about 720 kilometers from Kolkata.
Soon after the mishap, the injured were sent to the hospital. Besides, measures were taken to send other passengers to Guwahati safely.
As said by the Northeast Frontier Railway, the engine and the coach adjacent to it derailed.
The incident took place just two weeks after 14 coaches of the Indore-Patna express ran off the tracks near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The incident killed over 100 people and injured many others.
Among the dead are a male and a female, but their identity is yet to be known. As of now, the 12 injured are in a critical condition.
The Accident Relief Train is at the accident spot with railway doctors and relief materials. The Divisional Railway Manager of Alipurduar Division Sanjeev Kishor is supervising the rescue and relief work.
Reportedly, the reason of derailment was overpassing of red signal by the driver of the train. However, a probe has been ordered by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu into the matter that will reveal the actual cause of the accident.
