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dated September 4, 1956: Train disaster

The death roll in the Secunderabad-Dronachallem Passenger train disaster near Mahbubnagar on the Central Railway has mounted to 112, according to a Railway press note issued in Hyderabad on September 2. Search parties are still combing the Ramdhani tank, nearly four miles down the scene of the tragedy, to see if any more bodies were left unrecovered. Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri, Railway Minister, and Mr. Pande, Chairman of the Railway Board, arrived in Hyderabad by a special plane from Bombay and immediately drove to the site of the accident. Heavy rain had swollen the Pasani Kunta Vagu, and the engine of the train had evidently just passed over the bridge when it gave way. The engine tender and the next two passenger bogies were wrenched away and they crashed into the swirling stream below. The third bogie with its front portion smashed was hanging precariously on the eastern bank. The first bogie which carried third class passengers and was bound for Dronachallem was smashed to smithereens and not a single passenger in this over-crowded 70-seater coach is believed to have escaped. The bridge which gave way was constructed in 1923.

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