5 dead as train rams into vehicles at open level-crossing in UP's Shahjahanpur

Five people were killed and one person was injured on Thursday after a train rammed into some vehicles at a manned level-crossing whose gates were allegedly not closed when the train came hurtling in, police said. Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural) Sanjeev Bajpai said the locomotive of Lucknow-Chandigarh Superfast (5012-down) got derailed after hitting the vehicles, disrupting rail traffic in both directions for close to six hours. The incident took place after the train crossed Meeranpur Katra Railway Station this morning and hit two trucks, one car and one motorcycle at the open crossing, he told PTI.

District Magistrate Indra Vikram Singh said, ''Around 5.10 am, when the train reached the Hulas Nagla crossing in Katra area, the pilot saw vehicles on the track and applied emergency brakes, but the engine hit them." Those killed in the incident include three of a family -- Sidakat (30), Gulistan (27) and Hamja (1.5 years) -- who were in the truck. The two other deceased have been identified as Prempal (55), who died on the spot, and Satyendra (45), who succumbed during treatment. Divisional Railway Manager Tarun Prakash told PTI that a team of three engineers from the railway headquarters has been constituted to probe the incident.

''Prima facie, there was no fault in the signal system. The probe team has the chief engineers of the signaling and the loco engineering departments,'' he said.

He said that traffic was resumed six hours post the incident after repairing of the tracks. ASP Bajpai said it is being investigated as to how the gates remained open when a train came hurtling down.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed his condolences to the bereaved families, and announced Rs 2-lakh assistance for each of them, an official spokesman said in Lucknow.