Share

3 Indian rail workers arrested over deadly train crash

accreditation
0:00
play article
Subscribers can listen to this article
Indian police confirmed that three rail workers had been arrested and charged over a triple-train collision that killed nearly 300 people in June. File image.
Indian police confirmed that three rail workers had been arrested and charged over a triple-train collision that killed nearly 300 people in June. File image.
Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images)
  • Three Indian rail workers have been arrested over a triple-train collision that killed nearly 300 people in June. 
  • The trio is facing charges of culpable homicide and the destruction of evidence.
  • India's railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw previously said the crash was the result of an issue with signalling.

Indian police said on Friday they had arrested three men over a triple-train collision that killed nearly 300 people last month, one of the worst rail accidents in the country's history.

June's train crash in eastern Odisha state occurred when a packed passenger train was mistakenly diverted onto a loop line and slammed into a stationary goods train loaded with iron ore.

The derailed compartments then struck the carriages of another fast train, the Howrah Superfast Express from Bengaluru, which was passing in the opposite direction.

Three railway employees had been charged with culpable homicide and destruction of evidence in a case filed against them on Thursday, a statement from the Central Bureau of Investigation said.

The statement identified the men as two signal engineers and one technician employed with Indian Railways, without giving further details.

The two passenger trains were carrying more than 2 000 passengers between them when the collision occurred.

Carriages had flipped over entirely and rescue workers scrambled to pull out survivors trapped in the mangled wreckage, with scores of bodies laid out under white sheets beside the tracks.

Relatives spent days combing through possessions and looking at post-mortem pictures of those killed in the crash, to identify their loved ones.

At least 850 others were injured in the collision.

Days after the accident, India's railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the crash was the result of an issue with signalling and that the "people responsible for the accident" had been identified.

But he did not give further details at the time, saying he did not wish to pre-empt a government probe into the disaster.

Train services resumed 51 hours after the deadly crash, and Vaishnaw was seen folding his hands in prayer as he saw the first train cross the accident site.

Indian Railways, the world's fourth-largest rail network, runs some 14 000 trains daily with 8 000 locomotives over a vast system of tracks around 64 000 kilometres long.

Carrying more than 21 million passengers each day, according to official figures, the network is under enormous pressure in a country which has recently become the world's most populous.

India has invested huge sums of money in recent years to upgrade its rail network, run express trains, build modern railway stations, lay new tracks and install electronic signalling systems.

The June crash ranks as India's third-worst and the deadliest since 1995, when 300 people were killed after two express trains collided near Agra, home of the Taj Mahal.



We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Will you use Amazon's newly launched SA website for your online shopping needs?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes, I'm ready to fill up my cart
46% - 100 votes
No, I'm not buying into the hype
54% - 116 votes
Vote
Rand - Dollar
18.48
+0.0%
Rand - Pound
23.15
+0.3%
Rand - Euro
19.91
+0.0%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.21
+0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.4%
Platinum
979.35
+1.3%
Palladium
976.00
-0.8%
Gold
2,315.52
-0.4%
Silver
27.31
-0.5%
Brent Crude
83.33
+0.4%
Top 40
70,790
+0.2%
All Share
76,930
+0.2%
Resource 10
61,038
-0.6%
Industrial 25
107,159
+0.1%
Financial 15
16,711
+0.7%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE