Porni Banerjee | ১৭ জুন ২০২৪ ১৩ : ৩৭Porni Banerjee

The Eastern Railway announced on Monday that an emergency passenger train from Kolkata’s Sealdah will leave for the accident site near North Bengal’s New Jalpaiguri where a collision between a goods train and Kanchanjungha Express train took place on Monday morning.

In addition, the North Bengal State Transport (NBST) would also deploy ten buses to bring back stranded passengers from the site.

Quoting Eastern Railway CPRO Kaushik Mitra, news agency UNI reported that the Kanchanjunga Express would leave on Monday night as per scheduled departure time.  

A total of at least 15 people have been found dead and 60 others injured so far in the accident that occured near Rangapani railway station, about 7 km from New Jalpaiguri in North Bengal. A big team of relief and rescue operations are already on duty.

The driver of the freight train, that hit the passenger train from behind, also died in the mishap. The collision between two trains derailed three bogies of Kanchanjungha Express train.

Meanwhile, the collision has disrupted rail services in North Bengal. as per latest information, the Vande Bharat Express, travelling on the Howrah-New Jalpaiguri route, was said to halt its function at the Malda Town railway station.

Several prominent leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, President Droupadi Murmu, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha have also condoled the loss of lives and prayed for speedy recovery of those injured. 

in addition, the Prime Minister’s Office has announced a financial compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the families of those killed and an assistance of Rs 50,000 for those who sustained injuries in the accident.