Coromandel Express: At least 40 on Coromandel Express may have died due to electrocution | India News
His statement echoes the FIR that mentions electrocution as the cause of many deaths after live overhead cables fell on the compartments. тАЬMany passengers succumbed to injuries caused due to the collision and electrocution (after) coming in contact with overhead LT (low tension) line,тАЭ states the FIR lodged by Government Railway Police (GRP) sub-inspector Papu Kumar Naik around 1am Saturday.
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The cables apparently snapped after the Yeshwantpur (Bengaluru)-Howrah Express crashed into the derailed bogies of the Coromandel Express at 6.55pm Friday. The Chennai-bound train had gone off track and rear-ended a stationary freight train.
тАЬWhile several bodies were disfigured beyond recognition, there were around 40 with no visible injury marks or bleeding from anywhere. Many of these deaths were presumably from electrocution,тАЭ the police officer said.
Purna Chandra Mishra, who retired as chief operations manager of East Coast Railway, said it was possible that those electrocuted were in contact with some part of the bogies in that exact fraction of a second when the overhead electric cables touched the train.
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The GRP had registered a case of death due to negligence (Section 304-A of the IPC) against тАЬunidentified individualsтАЭ and appointed a DSP-ranked officer to lead the investigation into the train tragedy before CBI was called in. Ranjeet Nayak, sub-divisional railway police officer of Cuttack, was entrusted with the probe on the basis of the complaint lodged around six hours after the accident.
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тАЬAt present, culpability of specific railway employees has not been ascertained,тАЭ the FIR states.
Sources said the MHA had informed the state government that a CBI team, led by a joint director, would visit Odisha by Tuesday to formally take over the probe.
The commissioner of railway safety visited the accident site before starting a public hearing in Kharagpur, West Bengal.
