Bilaspur: So far 11 people have died in the terrible train accident that took place on Tuesday evening near Bilaspur railway station in Chhattisgarh, while about 20 passengers are said to be injured. The accident occurred on the Bilaspur-Gevra route, when a mainline electric multiple unit (MEMU) local train hit the goods train from behind. The accident occurred a few kilometers away from Bilaspur city, which is the headquarters of the South East Central Railway (SECR) zone.

How did the accident happen?
The MEMU passenger train coming from Gevra to Bilaspur was at high speed at around 4 pm on Tuesday evening. There was a goods train standing ahead on the same track, which the train driver could not see and the train rammed into the goods train from behind. The collision was so severe that a coach of the passenger train ran over a wagon of the goods train. After the accident, the coach was badly damaged and many passengers were trapped inside. Railway officials present at the spot said that after the collision, there was chaos at the spot and screams were heard all around.

As soon as the information was received, police and administration reached the spot
As soon as information about the accident was received, teams of railway administration, local police and NDRF reached the spot. Bilaspur Range Inspector General Sanjeev Shukla said that till now eight bodies had been pulled out from the debris, which included four women and four men. Later, with the discovery of three more bodies, the death toll increased to 11. He said that relief work is going on continuously and the number of dead may increase further after the debris is completely removed.

Admitted to Apollo Hospitals and (CIMS)
Bilaspur Collector Sanjay Aggarwal said that the injured have been admitted to Apollo Hospital and Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS) for immediate treatment. The condition of one of these passengers is said to be serious. Railway doctors and paramedical teams have been deployed at the spot to provide assistance in case of any emergency.

Financial assistance to the families of the injured and deceased
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai expressed deep grief over the accident and announced financial assistance of ₹5 lakh for the families of the deceased and compensation of ₹50,000 for the injured. The Chief Minister has directed the officials to provide the best medical care to the injured and the entire investigation into the accident should be completed as soon as possible.

Investigation and further action
Railway officials said in the preliminary investigation that the cause of the accident could be signaling system or human error. South East Central Railway (SECR) has ordered a high-level inquiry to find out why the MEMU train driver did not receive timely warning. At present, track repair and debris removal work is going on, and efforts are being made to restore rail services soon.