Toll mounts to 143 in Indore-Patna Express derailment

The death toll on Monday mounted to 143 in the Indore-Patna Express derailment here in Kanpur rural area, as rescuers wrapped up their operation with little hope of finding any survivors after overnight efforts to pull out trapped passengers from the mangled bogies.

All the 14 derailed coaches of the Patna-bound train 19321 have been removed from the tracks. Many distraught people were sifting through the luggage and other belongings piled up at the site to look for any clue about their missing loved ones.

“I am looking for my brother. Who knows what has happened to him? He may have changed his seat... we have searched everywhere,” said Ramanand Tiwari.

After seeing bodies of three of his family members, Nirmal Verma was inconsolable.

“Whoever I tried to look for is dead. My brother, my elder sister-in-law, daughter.... I haven’t found my mother yet. I fear I will find her in the same condition,” said Verma, who was to travel with his family to a wedding but couldn’t get leave from work and was supposed to join them later.

“143 bodies have been found so far, out of which 110 have been identified,” according to IG (Kanpur range) Zaki Ahmad. 

While 120 bodies were pulled out till Sunday night, some others were found, as rescuers later cleared the wreckage.