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dated November 24, 1956: Tuticorin Express derails

Seventy-four persons were killed and 65 injured in one of the worst train disasters on the Southern Railway, which occurred on the morning of November 23 when the engine and seven bogies of the Tuticorin Express, which left Madras the previous night, capsized into a flooded river near Ariyalur, about 20 miles from Tiruchirappalli. Mr. O.V. Alagesan, Deputy Minister for Railways, who arrived in Madras by the night plane from Delhi on hearing the news, proceeded to the scene in a special train. Touching scenes were witnessed at the enquiry office of the headquarters of the Southern Railway, where relatives and friends of the passengers were continuously pouring in, making anxious enquiries about the fate of the passengers of the ill-fated train. According to a message received by the Madras Government, sudden and heavy floods in the river Maruthaiyar resulted in the washing away of the embankment on the Villupuram - Tiruchirappalli chord line between Ariyalur and Kallagam stations. The train which was approaching the spot at 5.20 a.m. suddenly went off the rails on the abutment of a bridge across the Maruthaiyar and fell into the river.

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