By IANS,
Lucknow : At least 11 people were killed and over 20 injured Sunday when a train smashed into a truck at an unmanned railway crossing in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district, police said.
The accident took place around 1.30 p.m. at Kalyanpur railway crossing in Gonda, 150 km from here.
“The Gorakhpur-Ayodhya passenger train hit a truck carrying sand at the crossing. Due to the impact, the truck rotated almost 180 degrees and hit the engine and the bogey just behind it,” Inspector Ram Iqbal of Nawabganj police station told IANS over phone.
The dead include the driver and the cleaner of the truck besides nine train passengers.
“Due to the impact of the truck on the engine and the bogie, over two dozen people have received critical injuries,” Iqbal said.
“Rescue operations are on and the injured have been sent to hospital,” Superintendent of Police (Gonda) N. Padmaja told IANS.
“Railway minister (Mamta Banerjee) has announced a compensation of Rs.5 lakh for the family members of the deceased, Rs.1 lakh for seriously injured and Rs.10.000 for those who received minor injuries,” North-Eastern Railway public relations officer Amit Singh told reporters.
“The train was full of devotees going to Ayodhya to take a holy dip in Saryu river Monday on Monday to celebrate Kartik Poornima. The track was cleared by evening and a rescue train was also sent there to take the passengers to Ayodhya,” he said.
The train was overloaded and besides sitting on the door, railings of the engine and the doors of the bogies, people were also sitting on the roof of the compartments, he said.
A team of the Railway Board senior officials has reached the spot to inquire into the incident, he added.