Eight People Killed, 32 Injured After Two Passenger Trains Collide in Andhra Pradesh
GG News Bureau
Visakhapatnam, 30th Oct. At least eight people were killed and 32 injured after two trains collided on the Howrah-Chennai line in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday evening, police said.
A senior official of the East Coast Railway (ECR) said the Palasa passenger train hit the Rayagada passenger train from behind at Kankatapalli, causing three coaches to derail.
According to the information provided by Vizianagaram Collector S Nagalakshmi, 32 people were injured.
A senior railway official said the injured were being shifted to hospitals in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram.
In a post on X, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government has announced ex-gratia payments for the victims.
“All injured were shifted to hospitals. Ex-gratia compensation disbursement started — Rs 10 Lakh in case of death, Rs 2 Lakh towards grievous and Rs 50,000 for minor injuries,” he said on the microblogging website.
Expressing shock over the incident, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy also instructed officials to pay an ex-gratia amount of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh each to the injured from the state.
He also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each for the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each for the injured from other states, according to an official release.
Divisional Railway Manager Saurabh Prasad reached the site of the accident.
“The total number of deceased is eight. We are in the process of checking all the coaches. Once that is done, we will be able to ascertain the exact number. We have sent 13 injured people to the government primary healthcare centre. There may be some people with simple injuries,” Prasad told PTI.
He further said they are in the process of separating the entangled coaches and would get a clearer picture once that is done.
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