One person was killed and 33 passengers, including two children and six women, were injured after 12 bogies of the Muzaffarpur-Yashvantpur Express (15228) derailed near Chitheri village, seven km from Arakkonam in Vellore district, early on Wednesday. The cause of the derailment is yet to be ascertained.
Railway officials identified the deceased as Soram Bodi (52) of Jalia village in West Bengal’s Malda district. Bodi was travelling in the train’s B2 (three-tier AC) compartment.
The train was speeding at 120 kmph, after starting from Arakkonam Junction at 5.35 am, the police said. As many as 12 bogies from the 8th compartment of the train (S-4) — four air-conditioned coaches (B1, B2, A1, A2), a pantry car and seven sleeper coaches — derailed, they added.
Residents of Chitheri and nearby village of Asamanthur helped many passengers out of the derailed coaches by breaking the windows of the AC compartments. Personnel from the Railways medical team, Disaster Management Rescue Force, attached to the National Disaster Management Authority, and the Fire and Rescue Department pulled out passengers caught inside the derailed coaches.
Several trains from Chennai Central were cancelled following the accident.