“The train accident on the Howrah-Chennai line in Vizianagaram district, Andhra Pradesh, resulted in a tragic increase in casualties,” reported Superintendent of Police M Deepika on Monday. As per East Coast Railway (ECR) officials, the incident occurred around 7 pm on Sunday when the Palasa passenger train collided with the Rayagada passenger train near Kantakapalli, causing three coaches to derail. Biswajit Sahu, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of the ECR, initially reported nine fatalities.
However, by Monday morning, the police confirmed that the death toll had risen to 13. Vizianagaram Collector S Nagalakshmi provided information that at least 32 people were injured. A senior railway official mentioned that the injured were being transferred to hospitals in Visakhapatnam and Vizianagaram.
Expressing his shock over the incident, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy instructed officials to provide an ex-gratia amount of Rs 10 lakh to the families of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh to each of the injured from the state. He also announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured from other states. The ECR has established helplines to assist those affected.
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