ANANTAPUR: In a pre-dawn tragedy, as many as 25 passengers, who were in deep sleep, died and over 100 others were injured when Bengaluru-bound Hampi Express rammed into a stationary goods train at Penukonda railway station on Tuesday. Most of the victims were from Karnataka.
Among the deceased, 17 were in the women’s compartment which took the maximum impact and the remaining were in a sleeper coach and a general bogie next to it.
While 24 passengers died on the spot, another person, identified as Maganappa, died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Pavagada in Karnataka. The bodies in the general bogie were charred, making identification difficult.
The driver, noticing a goods train on the same track on which he was speeding, applied emergency brakes but in vain. The train collided with the goods train at about 3 a.m.
Hampi Express, which left Guntakal railway station at 11.15 p.m. on Monday night, was scheduled to arrive at Penukonda at 2.44 a.m. Though no signal clearance was given, the driver is said to have disregarded the red signal and moved on to platform No II where a goods train was already stationed.
Hampi Express rammed the goods train and under the impact its engine climbed on to the top of its rear wagon. Four bogies of the passenger train were derailed and fell sideways. Immediately, a fire started in the luggage van adjacent to the women’s bogie. Officials suspect some inflammable material might have been loaded into the luggage van.
The district administration swung into action and took up rescue operations. Fire tenders were pressed into service.
All the injured passengers were rushed to hospitals at Anantapur, Hindupur, Puttaparthi, Penukonda and Bengaluru.
Railway officials cancelled several trains and stopped others at Anantapur, Dharmavaram and Puttaparthi.