Intercity train derails kills 12 and 100 injured in southern India

Ernakulam bound Intercity train from Bengaluru in Southern India, derailed and killed 12 passengers died and over 100 injured. Nine coaches of (Train no. 12677) jumped rails at  Belagondapalli near Anekal town on the city’s outskirts around 7.35 a.m, after a boulder might have fallen on the track.

The train departed from Bengaluru’s main city station at 6.15 a.m. and covered 35 km when the mishap took place between the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border on the Bengaluru-Salem section between Anekal road and Hosur town.

Many of the injured,  have been rushed to the nearby Narayana Hrudayalaya, Anekal General Hospital and Sparsh Hospital.

Heavy equipment are being summoned from Erode to remove the mangled remains on Anekal road and Hosur line of the Bengaluru-Salem section. The accident site is about 15 km from Tamil Nadu border.

About seven ambulances from Tamil Nadu and 10 from Karnataka have been dispatched to tackle the emergency situation.

The derailed coaches are D-8, D-9, D-10, D-11, two AC Chair Cars and two unreserved coaches, railway sources said.  Reports  yet to be confirmed say the locomotive of the train also caught fire and that the pantry car rammed into the adjacent D-8 coach.

A 27-year-old  commuter Roshini Hariharan, who was listening to music and having a short nap during her journey recollects hearing a loud noise followed by dust and smoke all over the D9 coach in which she was travelling.

“For one-and-half hours, co-passengers were only helping each other with the help of  local residents. As there was  a shortage of first aid equipment  residents chipped in by bringing first aid equipments from their houses to rescue people from the wreckage”

“I saw people hanging from the train. It was traumatising to see a small boy’s head crushed and woman was hanging upside down,” Ms. Hariharan said.