The Kanchenjunga Express train with passengers on board collided this Monday, June 17, 2024 with a goods convoy in Phansidewa, in the district of Darjeeling, in West Bengal, announced the chief minister of this state of the is from India, Mamata Banerjee.
The train accident left five dead, according to an initial report announced by the police.
Emergency services are on site
“Doctors, ambulances and rescue teams were dispatched to the scene”Mamata Banerjee wrote on social media, calling the accident a “tragic” but without providing a balance sheet.
Images broadcast by Indian media show the tangled wreckage of wagons overturned on their sides, with one propelled skyward, balanced precariously on top of another.
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Several deadly accidents
India, which has one of the world’s largest railway networks, has seen a large number of deadly train accidents in its history. However, security has improved in recent years thanks to investments and technological improvements.
The deadliest accident in the country’s history remains that of June 6, 1981 when, in the state of Bihar (east), seven wagons from a train crossing a bridge fell into the Bagmati River, causing between 800 and 1,000 deaths.
More information to come…
