At least 120 passengers were killed and more than 200 injured, nearly half of them grievously, in the worst train accident in recent years when 14 coaches of Indore-Patna Express derailed here in Kanpur rural area early today due to suspected rail fracture.
The disaster took place just a little after 0300 hrs when the passengers were jolted out of their sleep as the Patna-bound train 19321 jumped the tracks, badly damaging four ordinary sleeper coaches in which hundreds were trapped.
Of the four coaches, the S1 and S2 had telescoped into each other and most of the casualties were feared to have been in these two compartments.
S3 and S4 coaches also suffered severe damage while an AC-III tier coach was also affected but casualties in it were not heavy.
As Railway personnel assisted by those of army, NDRF and State police carried out the search and rescue operation, the number of casualties kept on increasing by the hour.
By 8 pm, 120 bodies were recovered from the mangled coaches and most of them taken to Mati mortuary in Kanpur rural, according to IG (Kanpur range) Zaki Ahmad, who said a few more passengers were feared trapped.
Among the dead, 62 have been identified. At least 20 are from Uttar Pradesh, 15 from Madhya Pradesh and six from Bihar and one each from Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Seventy-six passengers were seriously injured and 150 received minor injuries in the derailment, Ahmad said.
Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha told reporters at the spot that it seems the cause of the accident is rail fracture.
While Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced compensation of ₹5 lakh for the kin of each of the dead in the accident, Modi sanctioned ₹2 lakh. On his part, the Railway Minister enhanced the ex-gratia grant from ₹2 lakh to ₹3.5 lakh to the families of the dead.
The UP government will give ₹50,000 to those seriously injured and ₹25,000 for those with simple injuries.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who visited the injured in hospitals in Kanpur Urban, announced ₹2 lakh for kin of each of the deceased and ₹50,000 for the injured.