Andhra train accident: 11 of the dead train passengers identified

VISAKHAPATNAM: Eleven of the victims of Sunday’s train accident in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district have been identified. Officials clarified that the death toll stands at 13.

According to Vizianagaram District Collector Nagalakshmi, two bodies are yet to be identified.

The deceased include SMS Rao, loco pilot of the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train, Gangman Chinatala Krishnam Naidu of Vizianagaram and M. Srinivas, who was a passenger guard on the Visakhapatnam Palasa train.

The other victims were identified as Kanchubaraki Ravi, Karanam Appalanaidu, Challa Sathish, Pilla Nagaraju, Reddi Seetham Naidu, Majji Ramu, all from Vizianagaram district and Gidijala Lakshmi and Tenkala Sugunamma, both from Srikakulam.

Bodies of the deceased will be handed over to their families after the autopsy.

The District Collector was supervising relief operations from the government general hospital at Vizianagaram. She said 38 injured were undergoing treatment at Vizianagaram hospital. One injured each was shifted to KGH, NRI and Medicover hospitals in Visakhapatnam.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has announced Rs.10 lakh ex-gratia for next of kin of the passengers from the state killed in the accident. He also announced Rs.2 lakh each to the injured from the state.

For the families of the deceased from other states, he announced a compensation of Rs. 2 lakh each while the injured will be provided an assistance of Rs. 50,000 each.

The accident occurred when Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger train was rammed into by Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger near Kantakapalli junction in Kothavalasa block.

According to railway officials, the accident occurred at about 7 p.m. when Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train overshot the signal to hit Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger train from the rear while it was waiting for the signal. The derailed coaches of the two trains rammed into a goods train moving on the adjacent track.