M A I N   N E W S

Probe into train mishap begins today

Vadodara, April 22
Even as the railway authorities today said that 16 persons died and 137 were injured in the Sabarmati train mishap at Samlaya on Vadodara-Godhra section of the Western Railway yesterday, the list of dead provided by Railway officials and the hospitals put the toll at 19, including the four unidentified bodies.

The inquiry into the mishap by Commissioner of Railway Safety (Western Circle) Prasant Kumar begins tomorrow. He will hold a public hearing and inspect the accident site. Mr Kumar will also visit Vadodara station for two days from April 24.

According to official sources, at least 50 passengers of the ill-fated train were admitted in different government hospitals and private nursing homes at Vadodara, Ahmedabad and Jarod.

The condition of three of them was stated to be ‘’critical’’ and they have been kept in the ICU of the SSG Government Hospital, Ahmedabad where a maximum of 38 injured with multiple fractures and head injuries had been admitted.

Yesterday, confusion prevailed over the actual casualty figure due to the absence of any authentic list of the victims.

The sources today confirmed that the deceased included six women and two Sabarmati Express engine drivers — S. Kisanlal and Sitaram Mogiram Goshwal, both residents of Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh.

While 15 passengers had died inside the mangled coaches, Shyam Adhar Kuhisram Jaiswal, 34, of Jaunpur succumbed to his injuries he suffered when he jumped out of the tangled mass of coaches.

Bodies of six of the victims, including that of railway gangwoman Ratnaben Sakaria Mavi,30, and her 10-year-old daughter Sanga, were still lying in the morgue of the SSG hospital as nobody has so far claimed them.

SSG hospital doctors said 120 passengers were admitted in the hospital but not a single had died during the treatment. They said of the 38 passengers under treatment, 35 are stable but three are still ‘’critical’’. — UNI