Trains collide in India

[chobolan]

May 28, 2010
Trains collide in India

<!-- end left side bar -->

<!-- story content : start -->

NEW DELHI - A BLAST hit a passenger train and flung it into the path of a speeding goods train coming from the opposite direction in eastern India early on Friday, a railway spokesman said, adding many deaths were feared. The incident occurred in an area known to be a stronghold of Maoist rebels, and a railway spokesman said sabotage was suspected. A reporter of the Telegraph newspaper told Reuters from the accident site that he had counted at least 20 bodies.

'I can see at least four passenger coaches completely mangled. I am seeing many bodies crushed under the goods train,' Naresh Jana told Reuters. He described a scene of chaos and panic. 'People are crying. Rescuers are struggling to save the survivors and get the bodies out.' The incident comes days after a passenger airliner crashed in southern India, killing 158 people. The passenger train was going to Mumbai from the eastern metropolis of Kolkata in West Bengal state. The incident occurred in the state's Jhargram area.

'The blast derailed 13 coaches of the Gyaneshwari Express. These coaches then fell on the other track where a goods train rammed into some of them,' Soumitra Majumdar, a railway spokesman told Reuters. 'We fear many casualties. There could be many people dead. We don't have details yet.' Mr Majumdar said sabotage was suspected because the passenger train had been hit by a blast. The Maoist rebels, who often attack police, government buildings and infrastructure such as railway stations, have in recent months stepped up attacks in response to a government security offensive to clear them out of their jungle bases.

The rebels blew up a bus in the mineral-rich state of Chhattisgarh this month, killing 35 people, about a month after 76 police were killed in another attack. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the insurgency as India's biggest internal security challenge. The decades-old movement is now present in a third of the country and while they have made few inroads into cities, they have spread into rural pockets of up to 28 states and hurt potential business worth billions of dollars. -- REUTERS

 

[Taishi Ci]

India train derails, 65 killed


May 28, 2010
India train derails, 65 killed

<!-- end left side bar -->

The incident occurred in an area known to be a stronghold of Maoist rebels, and a railway spokesman said sabotage was suspected. -- PHOTO: AFP

KOLKATA - AN EXPRESS train packed with sleeping passengers derailed in India on Friday and slammed into a goods train, killing at least 65 people in an apparent attack by Maoist rebels, officials said. More fatalities were feared in the mangled wreckage after 13 carriages of the Mumbai-bound express train careened off the tracks in the state of West Bengal and collided with the oncoming freight train. Initial reports indicated the derailment may have been triggered by an act of sabotage, with officials pointing the finger at Maoist rebels who are active in the region of eastern India.

West Bengal Relief Minister Mortaja Hussain said hundreds of people had yet to be rescued from the train, which was heading to India's financial capital Mumbai from the West Bengal state capital Kolkata. Railways Minister Mamata Bannerjee, who rushed to the site, said she had originally been told that the derailment had been caused by an explosion on the tracks. However, several railway officials said it seemed a section of rail had been removed.

'The fear is that this was a Maoist attack,' Ms Bannerjee told reporters. 'The railways are a soft target. They are a lifeline ... which the Maoists have attacked in the past and, it seems, even now,' she added. The incident occurred at around 1.30am (2000 GMT on Thursday, 4am Singapore time) in the district of West Midnapore - a Maoist stronghold some 135km west of Kolkata. Maoist fighters waging a bloody rebellion have been responsible for several train derailments in eastern India in recent months. -- AFP

 

[Taishi Ci]

Suspected Indian Maoists sabotage train, 65 killed


<!-- Story Without Image / With eXtra Large Image End --> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="560"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" valign="top" width="550">Suspected Indian Maoists sabotage train, 65 killed <!-- TITLE : end--> </td> </tr><tr></tr><tr> <td colspan="2" align="left" valign="top" width="550"> <table> <tbody><tr> <td> <table><tbody><tr><td>

</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="content_subtitle" align="left"> Fri, May 28, 2010
AFP </td> </tr></tbody></table> </td> <td align="right" width="400">
</td><td>
</td></tr> </tbody></table> </td> </tr> <tr><td colspan="3" class="bodytext_10pt"> <!-- CONTENT : start -->
SARDIHA, INDIA - Suspected Maoist rebels derailed a high-speed train packed with sleeping passengers into the path of a freight train in eastern India Friday, killing at least 65 people, officials said. Police said the death toll was expected to rise with dozens more bodies feared trapped in the mangled wreckage after 13 carriages of the Mumbai-bound express from Kolkata careened off the tracks in a remote area of West Bengal.

Initial reports had suggested the derailment was triggered by an explosion, but police said there was evidence that the fishplates used to secure adjoining sections of track had been removed. "We found some Maoist leaflets at the site so it appears to be the work of Maoists," West Bengal police chief Bhupinder Singh told AFP. "It seems there are still a large number of passengers trapped in the carriages -- dead or alive, we are not sure," Singh said.

Another senior police official helping coordinate the rescue operation said emergency teams had recovered 65 bodies. "And the fear is that there will be many more," police inspector general Surajit Kar Purakayastha told AFP. More than 120 people were reported injured, some of them in critical condition. Four of the carriages which had slammed into an oncoming goods train were badly crushed and flipped on their sides with body parts clearly visible amid the twisted metal.

Rescue workers with bolt cutters struggled to free anyone still alive inside. One survivor, Vinayak Sadna, said he had been sleeping when his carriage lurched violently to one side and then flipped over, flinging passengers around the compartment. "I ended up stuck between two seats with an iron bar crushing my hand," Sadna said. "I was trapped for three hours before I was pulled out. My wife is still missing."

Another distraught passenger, Ranjit Ganguly, who was travelling to Mumbai for a holiday with his family said he had been thrown from his carriage by the impact but his daughter and son were trapped inside. Paramedic teams treated the injured on the side of the track, while the most serious cases were evacuated by air force helicopters. Railways Minister Mamata Bannerjee, who rushed to the site, confirmed that Maoists were believed to be responsible.

"The railways are a soft target. They are a lifeline ... which the Maoists have attacked in the past and, it seems, even now," she told reporters. The incident occurred at around 1:30 am (2000 GMT Thursday) in the district of West Midnapore -- a Maoist stronghold around 135 kilometres (85 miles) west of Kolkata. If Maoist involvement is confirmed, it will increase pressure on the Indian government, which is currently reviewing its anti-Maoist strategy after a series of deadly attacks.

Until now, the government has resisted growing calls to deploy the military against the rebels, preferring instead to use regular and paramilitary police. But Home Minister P. Chidambaram -- who has borne the brunt of public criticism over the handling of the insurgency -- recently acknowledged that changes were needed and said he would request wider powers. The Maoist rebellion began in West Bengal state in 1967 in the name of defending the rights of tribal groups, and has since spread to 20 of India's 28 states.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has labelled it the biggest threat to the country's internal security. In April, the rebels ambushed and killed 76 policemen in the central state of Chhattisgarh in the bloodiest massacre of security forces so far by the extremists. Friday's incident was the worst loss of life on India's enormous rail network since 22 people were killed in October, when a Delhi-bound express ploughed into the back of passenger train near the Taj Mahal town of Agra. The railway system -- the main form of long-distance travel in India despite fierce competition from private airlines -- runs 14,000 passenger and freight trains a day, carrying 18.5 million people.
</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

[Taishi Ci]

​

In these images taken from television Indian rescue workers and volunteers gather on the wreckage of train carriages as they seek to help possible survivors after an accident in the district of West Midnapore, some 135 kilometres west of the state capital Kolkata.

​

​

An express train has derailed in eastern India and slammed into an oncoming goods train,
killing at least 30 people with more casualties feared in the mangled wreckage.

One local government official said the toll could go up to "anywhere around 50-60" because many passengers were trapped inside mangled coaches.
​

​

A railway spokesman said sabotage was suspected, but the involvement of the Maoists has yet to be confirmed.

​

​

A reporter of the Telegraph newspaper described a scene of chaos and panic at the site.
"People are crying. Rescuers are struggling to save the survivors and get the bodies out," Naresh Jana told Reuters.

​

​

"I can see body parts hanging out of the compartments and under the wheels.
I can hear people, women, crying for help from inside the affected coaches."

​

<!-- START RedSheriff Measurement V5.1 --> <!-- COPYRIGHT 2003 RedSheriff Limited --> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://multimedia.asiaone.com/a1mediajs/site/a1nr/net_mmedia.js"></script><script type="text/javascript" src="http://secure-sg.imrworldwide.com/v53.js"></script>

The blast derailed 13 coaches of the Gyaneshwari Express. These coaches then fell on the other track where a goods train rammed into some of them.

​

​

The incident comes days after a passenger airliner crashed in southern India, killing 158 people. The Maoist rebels blew up a bus in the mineral-rich state of Chhattisgarh this month, killing 35 people, about a month after 76 police were killed in another attack.


​

 

[M.Bison]

Teams of paramedics stretchered the injured away from the site, with the worst cases being air lifted out by air force helicopters doing regular shuttle runs to the nearest hospitals. -- PHOTO: AFP

Injured passengers are helped at the scene of a train crash near Sardiha, West Bengal state, about 150 kms (90 miles) west of Calcutta, India, early Friday, May 28, 2010. The overnight passenger train was derailed by an explosion then hit by another train early Friday as it traveled through a rebel stronghold of eastern India, officials said. -- PHOTO: AP



​

 

[Taishi Ci]

146 dead in train sabotage


May 30, 2010
146 dead in train sabotage

<!--background story, collapse if none--> The rebel stronghold

* The Sardiha area is a stronghold of the rebels, known as Naxalites, who have launched repeated and often-audacious attacks in recent months despite government claims of a crackdown.

* Thirteen days ago, the rebels ambushed a bus in central India, killing 31 police officers and civilians. A few weeks before that, 76 soldiers were killed in a rebel ambush - the deadliest attack by the rebels against government forces in the 43-year insurgency.

* Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has often described the Naxalites as India's biggest internal security challenge. Analysts say the government's crackdown is hobbled by vacillating policies, poorly trained and ill-armed security forces and vast tracts of India where the government has little influence and where poverty has brought considerable support to the Naxalites, who claim to be fighting on behalf of the rural poor.

* The rebels, who have tapped into the poor's anger at being left out of the country's economic gains, are now present in 20 of the country's 28 states and have an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters, according to the Home Ministry. -- AP

The death toll from the accident climbed to 145 on Sunday and at least 150 people, some with severe burns, were still in hospitals near the accident site in the small town of Sardiha. -- PHOTO: AP

CALCUTTA (India) - NORMAL railway service resumed across an eastern Indian state on Sunday, two days after a train accident blamed on Maoist rebels that killed 146 people, officials said. Thirteen cars from a high-speed passenger train derailed and then were hit by an oncoming cargo train in West Bengal state on early Friday. Police accuse the rebels of sabotaging the tracks.

The death toll from the accident climbed to 145 on Sunday, said Surojit Kar Purkayastha, a state inspector general of police. He said at least 150 people, some with severe burns, were still in hospitals near the accident site in the small town of Sardiha, about 90 miles (150 kilometres) west of the state capital, Calcutta.

Railway workers and paramilitary soldiers working with blow torches, cranes and heavy equipment have pried apart the coaches of the two trains and cleared the track of the wreckage, said Soumitra Mazumdar, a railway spokesman. Railway workers replaced a 46-cm (18-inch) portion of track that had been removed by suspected rebels, officials said. Police accuse a Maoist group, the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities.

Bhupinder Singh, the top police official in West Bengal, said the group's posters were found at the scene taking responsibility for the attack. However, a spokesman for the group, Asit Mahato, denied any role. On Sunday, local newspapers and television channels said a rogue rebel faction was responsible. A railway safety commission will meet on Monday to examine evidence from the crash site, officials said. -- AP