The Hindu : Front Page : 102 die as floods wash away train in A.P.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 30, 2005

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102 die as floods wash away train in A.P.

Andhra Pradesh Bureau

Many irrigation tanks breached their banks and flooded the culvert leaving the tracks dangling

TRAIN OF TRAGEDY: Bogies of the Repalle-Secunderabad Delta Fast Passenger lie pell-mell after being swept away in flash floods at Valigonda in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday.

HYDERABAD: In the worst-ever train disaster in Andhra Pradesh in recent memory, at least 102 persons were killed and 92 injured when many bogies of a Secunderabad-bound passenger were washed away in a flash flood at Valigonda, about 80 km from here, in the early hours of Saturday.

Survivors said at least 150 of the 1,000 persons aboard the Repalle-Secunderabad Delta Fast Passenger would have died — either crushed in the mangled compartments or washed away in floods. Thomas Varghese, holding additional charge of the South Central Railway, told The Hindu that the death toll might go up once trapped bodies were extricated.

The accident occurred at 4.25 a.m., barely 10 minutes after the train left the Ramannapet station in Nalgonda district in pouring rain. The engine, which was hauling 17 compartments, had to cross a small culvert over which some trains passed earlier. Several irrigation tanks breached their banks and flooded the six metre-wide culvert, whose embankments caved in for 120 metres, leaving the track dangling.

Heap of steel in swirling waters

The engine along with four sleeper and three unreserved coaches plunged into the swirling waters and lay in a tangled heap of steel. The able-bodied climbed the roof of the bogies.

Driver D. Samuel died instantly. Assistant driver D. Srinivasa Rao said: "I was shocked to see from a distance the rails floating in waters. Even before Samuel could react, the tragedy struck."

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy asked officials to seek the assistance of the Army, the Air Force and the Navy even as a railway relief van rushed doctors. Soon the Army, with the help of two IAF helicopters, took over the rescue operations. The Army men ripped open the compartments with gas cutters and retrieved many bodies.

After visiting the scene along with Dr. Reddy, Minister of State for Railways R. Velu said that, for the first time, at least one family member of each of those killed would be provided employment in the Railways. Their kin would be paid an ex gratia of Rs. 1 lakh immediately, in addition to Rs. 4 lakhs from the Railway Safety Fund.

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