High-level inquiry ordered into Bihar rail accident, many trains diverted as restoration work continue

Cranes and equipment used in cutting through metal are being used for clearing the tracks, where lay a number of derailed coaches, some of which overturned.

Buxar: The railways on Thursday ordered a high-level inquiry into the derailment of the Delhi-Kamakhya North East Express in Bihar's Buxar district, in which four persons were killed and several people injured, officials said. Twenty-three coaches of the train, on the way to Assam from Delhi, derailed near the Raghunathpur station around 9.53 pm on Wednesday, they said.

"A high-level inquiry has been ordered to investigate the reason behind the incident," East Central Railway's chief public relations officer Birendra Kumar said in a statement. An ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh will be given to the next of kin of each deceased, and Rs 50,000 will be given to the injured, he said. ECR general manager Tarun Prakash, who is in Raghunathpur to supervise the restoration works, told PTI-Video that the priority is to clear the tracks.

"The number of casualties is four. The number of injured passengers is 40. The cause of derailment will be known only after a proper investigation. At present our priority is to clear the tracks. Until normal traffic is restored, trains running on the route will be diverted," he said. However, a Railway Police Force (RPF) officer had on Wednesday night said that at least 70 people were injured in the accident, and taken to local hospitals.

On the other side, the statement issued by the ECR said that while five passengers were critically injured, 25 received minor injuries. Prakash said that the cause of the accident will be known only after the investigation is complete. Meanwhile, all passengers of the train bound for Kamakhya in Guwahati in Assam, who were in a position to undertake the onward journey, boarded a relief train in the early hours of Thursday, officials said.

Cranes and equipment used in cutting through metal are being used for clearing the tracks, where lay a number of derailed coaches, some of which overturned, they said. The injured people were undergoing treatment at hospitals mostly in Buxar town and Ara, where the neighbouring Bhojpur district is headquartered, officials said.

Ten injured passengers were taken to AIIMS-Patna, they added. "Ten patients have been admitted to the Trauma Center of AIIMS-Patna. Six of them had minor injuries," its executive director doctor Gopal Krushna Pal told PTI, adding that the other four persons have fractures in various parts of their bodies. "No one required ventilator support. No one is in a life-threatening condition. The treatment of the four people who had fractures is going on very well," he added.

Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who is the MP from Buxar, spoke to the director of AIIMS-Patna. Expressing condolences for the loss of lives, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw posted on X, "Will find the root cause of derailment." He said evacuation and rescue operations were completed and all coaches have been checked.

The 12506 North East Express departed the Anand Vihar terminal in Delhi at 7.40 am on Wednesday for its nearly 33-hour journey to Kamakhya. Electric wires, poles and tracks have been damaged due to the accident, officials said, adding that 21 trains operating on the route have been diverted as a result. (PTI)