As many as 26 passengers, traveling in the Bangalore-Nanded Express, have been charred to death and several others injured, when the three-tier Air-Conditioned bogie caught fire in the wee hours, around 3-30 am, on Saturday, at Kothacheruvu near Puttaparthy in Ananthapur District of Andhra Pradesh.
According to the District Public Relations Officer Thimmappa, on learning about the incident, the district administration led by the District Collector Lokesh Kumar swung into action and is carrying out relief and rescue operations.
The Minister for Revenue of Andhra Pradesh, Raghuveera Reddy, who is also personally supervising the relief and rescue operations, has appealed to the relatives of the passengers not to rush to the accident spot, as arrangements have already been made to shift the bodies to Bangalore. He said bodies would be sent to Victoria Hospital, Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital in Bangalore.
Raghuveera Reddy said that as most of the bodies are beyond recognition, they could be identified only after conducting Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA ) Test. The bodies will later be handed over to the relatives at Bangalore.
The Minister asked the relatives to contact the Helpline established by the South Western Railways to know about the deceased and injured passengers.
Helplines:
The Helpline Numbers at Bangalore are : 080 – 22354108, 22259271, 22156554
The Helpline established at the Collectorate at Ananthpur : 08554-275811.
For Puttaparthi: 08555-280125
For Hyderabad: 040-23310680
Thimmappa, District Public Relations Officer, Department of Information and Public Relations, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Ananthapur: 09949351632
The Union Minister of State for Railways Kotla Jayasurya Prakash Reddy visited the accident site. He said a compensation of Rs One Lakh will be given to seriously injured and Rs 50,000 to passengers with minor injuries.
Compensation announced
The Union Minister for Railways, M Mallikarjuna Kharge has termed the incident as most unfortunate and has announced a compensation of Rs 5 Lakh to the kin of the deceased families, He has also ordered for an inquiry about the incident, says a report from Gulbarga.
Meanwhile Mallikarjuna Kharge announced a compensation of Rs. 5 lakhs to the families of the dead and adequate compensation to the injured. He added that the entire medical expenditure of the injured persons would be borne by the Railways.
The above information has been provided by Information Department, Bangalore via email.