Train Accident Claims 25 Lives in Maharashtra

Mumbai: June 17, 2004

At least 25 persons including some women and children are believed to have perished and over a hundred others injured when the 2620 Down Matsyagandha Express rammed into large boulders on the tracks in the Konkan division of the Indian Railways in Maharashtra on Wednesday morning at around 6:00 AM.

The train was going from Mangalore to Mumbai when 10 bogeys of the train turned over after the engine rammed into several large rocks between Karjandi and Veer stations, about 150 kilometers from Mumbai, India’s financial and business hub.

It may be recalled that nearly a year ago on June 22, 2003, the Holiday Special train going to Mumbai from Karwad met with a similar accident that claimed over fifty lives. Rocks on the tracks were said to be the cause of that disaster as well.

Injured have been rushed to several hospitals in the area even as the rescue and recovery operation continues on a massive scale. Several prominent trains have either been cancelled or diverted, railway officials in Mumbai said.

Railway Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was in Kolkata to preside over the 49th annual railway national awards function at the Science City Auditorium, near Salt Lake at the time of the accident, cancelled all of his programs and rushed to the disaster site to take stock of the situation. “Based on the preliminary investigations, it appears the accident was caused by large rocks on the track that made their ways due to land and mudslide caused by heavy rain in the area”, Yadav spoke during a press conference in Mumbai.

While announcing Rs. 1 lakh each for the Matsyagandha Express victims and Rs. 15,000 each for the injured, Yadav said that safety and security of the Indian Railways was the first and foremost priority of his ministry. Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde also announced Rs. 50,000 each for the deceased’s family and Rs. 10,000 each for the injured.

Yadav also blamed the former Railway Minister Nitish Kumar for not giving due importance to such problems faced by the Railways.

President APJ Abdul Kalam and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in separate statements, also expressed their grieves and directed the Railway ministry to do everything to ensure no such tragedy take place in future.

According to the president of the Railway Board R. K. Singh, more than 450 people were traveling by the ill-fated train and it’s a miracle that the number of casualties remained as low as it did in spite of the fact that three of the bogeys were dangling from the railway bridge.

Meanwhile, the Bhartiya Janata Party spokesperson Mukhtar Naqvi demanded a thorough and detailed investigation into the cause of the accident and expressed his concerns over the rising crimes in the railways specially since the RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav replaced the former Railway Minister and Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar.