At least 133 dead as rescuers finish India train crash search

The toll was likely to go up as two air-conditioned coaches were severely damaged and people were still trapped inside, said Rajesh Modak of the Railway Protection Force. India’s railway network, one of the world’s largest, is still the main form of long-distance travel in the vast country, but it is poorly funded and deadly accidents occur relatively frequently.

“I am looking for my brother”, said Ramanand Tiwari, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

In total, 110 bodies have been identified, with 97 handed over to the victims’ families. More than 200 additional travelers are injured.

The train usually runs with 22 coaches but on the day of the accident one more coach was added to the formation and that led to instability, leading to the derailment, the sources said.

While 120 bodies were pulled out till last night, some others were found as rescuers later cleared the wreckage. Experts blame the outdated infrastructure of railways for most of the accidents.

According to an Indian government report in 2012, about 15,000 people are killed every year in train accidents.

The deaths caused by the train disaster which took place on Sunday India reached the number of 142.

Passengers, most of who were sleeping at the time of the crash, described horrific scenes. The train came to a screeching halt.

“There was a loud sound like an quake. I fell from my berth and a lot of luggage fell over me”, Ramchandra Tewari, who suffered a head injury, said from his hospital bed in the industrial city of Kanpur.

“Whoever I tried to look for is dead”.

Krishna Keshav, who was travelling on the train, told the BBC: “We woke with a jolt at around 3am”.

And a year ago 27 people died after two trains derailed in central Madhya Pradesh state during heavy rains. “I saw several bodies and injured people”.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have expressed heartfelt condolences to families of deceased in the accident. I informed an officer in railway uniform in my coach about the unusual sound of the wheels.

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha and a host of top railways officials visited the site and supervised rescue and relief operations.

In a suo moto statement on Monday in the Lok Sabha, Prabhu said, “Strictest possible action would be taken against the guilty”.