| Two killed, 22 injured as 18 coaches of Howrah-Mumbai Mail derail in Jharkhand | | |  Agencies
NEW DELHI, July 30: Two persons were killed and 22 others injured after 18 coaches of the Howrah-Mumbai Mail derailed in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharsawan district early on Tuesday, officials said.
The accident occurred at 3:45 AM in Potobeda village near the Barabamboo station in the Kharsawan block, they said.
South Eastern Railway spokesperson Om Prakash Charan said there was another derailment of a goods train nearby.
"At least 18 coaches of the 22-coach 12810 Howrah-Mumbai Mail via Nagpur derailed near Barabamboo station in SER's Chakradharpur Division," he said. Of these, 16 were passenger coaches, one power car and one pantry car, Charan said.
"Two persons were killed and 22 others injured. Of the injured people, 18 have been discharged from hospitals and four are under observation," Seraikela-Kharsawan Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Lunayat told PTI.
All rescue and relief operations were completed within a few hours after the accident as teams of state police, district administration and Central Reserve Police Force rushed to the spot, Lunayat said, denying the possibility of any act of sabotage by Naxalites.
One wagon of the goods train had derailed and fell on other tracks on which the Howrah-Mumbai Mail was coming, he said, adding that the passenger train hit the wagon, resulting in the derailment of 18 coaches.
West Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Kuldeep Chaudhary was at the accident site and oversaw the rescue work.
The accident site is near the border between West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan districts.
"The injured passengers were provided medical aid in Barabamboo. They were taken to Chakradharpur for better treatment," another senior SER official said.
The railways made an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of the two deceased passengers of the 12810 Howrah-Mumbai Mail, the South Eastern Railway said.
The railways also paid Rs one lakh each to the eight people who suffered minor injuries.
The SER said in a statement that the kin of the deceased passengers - P Bikash and Ajit Kumar Samal, both from Odisha's Rourkela - were granted an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh each.
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