Devastating Rail Tragedy Strikes Andhra Pradesh: 13 people deceased

Tragic Andhra Pradesh Train Accident

Fatal­i­ties Rise to 13, Dozens Injured in Andhra Pradesh Train Col­li­sion

The trag­ic train col­li­sion that occurred in Andhra Pradesh on Sun­day evening, Octo­ber 29, has result­ed in a death toll of 13, with approx­i­mate­ly 50 indi­vid­u­als sus­tain­ing injuries due to the derail­ment of train coach­es in Viziana­garam dis­trict. The after­math of this dev­as­tat­ing inci­dent is as fol­lows:

The Prime Min­is­ter has announced an ex-gra­tia of Rs. 2 lakh from the PMNRF for the next of kin of each deceased due to the train derail­ment between Ala­man­da and Kan­taka­palle sec­tion. The injured would be giv­en Rs. 50,000. https://t.co/K9c2cRsePG

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) Octo­ber 29, 2023

Ongoing Rescue and Restoration Efforts

Res­cue oper­a­tions and the restora­tion of the rail­way tracks are still in progress at the acci­dent site, accord­ing to an East Coast Rail­way offi­cial.

Disruption in Rail Services

The cat­a­stroph­ic acci­dent has led to a sig­nif­i­cant dis­rup­tion in rail ser­vices:

• Train Can­cel­la­tions: A total of 12 trains have been can­celed on Mon­day as a result of the inci­dent.
• Train Diver­sions: Accord­ing to the East Coast Rail­way offi­cial, 15 trains have been divert­ed from their reg­u­lar routes.
• Par­tial Can­cel­la­tions: Addi­tion­al­ly, sev­en trains have been par­tial­ly can­celed to man­age the sit­u­a­tion effec­tive­ly.

East Coast Rail­way CPRO Biswa­jit Sahu men­tioned, “We have made bus arrange­ments for pas­sen­gers so that they are not trapped in the area, and we have par­tial­ly recov­ered (the tracks).”

Ex-gratia and Compensation

• Andhra Pradesh Chief Min­is­ter’s Relief: Andhra Pradesh Chief Min­is­ter YS Jagan Mohan Red­dy expressed shock over the acci­dent and instruct­ed offi­cials to pro­vide an ex-gra­tia amount of Rs 10 lakh each to the fam­i­lies of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh each to the injured from the state. He also announced com­pen­sa­tion of Rs 2 lakh for the fam­i­lies of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured from oth­er states.
• Union Rail­way Min­istry’s Sup­port: The Union Rail­way Min­istry has announced ex-gra­tia com­pen­sa­tion for the vic­tims, pro­vid­ing Rs 10 lakh in case of death, Rs 2 lakh for griev­ous injuries, and Rs 50,000 for minor injuries, as men­tioned by Rail­way Min­is­ter Ash­wi­ni Vaish­naw.
• PM Mod­i’s Involve­ment: Prime Min­is­ter Naren­dra Modi spoke to Rail­way Min­is­ter Shri Ash­wi­ni Vaish­naw to assess the sit­u­a­tion. The PMO report­ed, “Author­i­ties are pro­vid­ing all pos­si­ble assis­tance to those affect­ed. The Prime Min­is­ter extends con­do­lences to the bereaved fam­i­lies and prays that the injured recov­er soon.”

Monitoring and Response

• Andhra Pradesh Min­is­ter’s Over­sight: Andhra Pradesh Min­is­ter Botcha Satya­narayana is active­ly mon­i­tor­ing the ongo­ing res­cue oper­a­tions at the acci­dent site.
• Viziana­garam Dis­trict Offi­cials: Senior offi­cials from Viziana­garam dis­trict are also present, though they have cit­ed dif­fi­cul­ties in res­cue efforts due to night­time dark­ness.
• Emer­gency Helpline and Assis­tance: The East Coast Rail­way has issued an emer­gency helpline num­ber for the inci­dent. Local admin­is­tra­tion and the Nation­al Dis­as­ter Response Force (NDRF) have been noti­fied, and assis­tance, includ­ing ambu­lances and acci­dent relief trains, has been dis­patched to the loca­tion.

Details of the Accident

The inci­dent occurred around 7 pm when the Palasa pas­sen­ger train rear-end­ed the Raya­ga­da pas­sen­ger train at Kankat­a­pal­li, caus­ing the derail­ment of three coach­es. The two trains involved were train num­ber 08532 (Visakha­p­at­nam-Palasa pas­sen­ger) and 08504 (Visakha­p­at­nam-Raya­ga­da pas­sen­ger spe­cial). An offi­cial stat­ed that two coach­es of the Visakha­p­at­nam-Palasa pas­sen­ger train from the rear and the loco­mo­tive of the Visakha­p­at­nam-Raya­ga­da pas­sen­ger train were derailed in the col­li­sion.

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