7 dead in Seemanchal Express accident, arrangements in place to hand over bodies

Six of the 7 people killed in the train accident in Bihar have been identified so far, Vijay Sinha, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) Commandant said on Sunday.

"Out of seven casualties, six bodies identified. Three are from Bengal and three are from Khagaria (Bihar). The state government has done the arrangements for the bodies to be sent to their families after the post-mortem," he told ANI.

In addition to fatalities, three passengers got grievously injured and 27 passengers sustained minor injuries after eleven coaches of Seemanchal Express got derailed in Bihar.

22 individuals are admitted in Sadar Hospital, Hajipur, while eight grievously injured passengers have been referred to Patna Medical College and Hospital, said CPRO of East Central Railways.

Following the incident, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced the ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the deceased, Rs 1 lakh to grievously injured and Rs 50000 to those with minor injuries.

Upon receiving the news about this accident, Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chairman, Railway Board, Senior Railway Board officials, General Manager, East Central Railway, DRM Sonpur and other senior officers rushed to the accident site.

Some of the measures taken by the Indian Railways to restore normalcy at the accident site are under below:

- SPARME (Self-propelled accident relief train and medical equipment) & Accident Relief Trains (ART) reached the site.

- Unaffected 12 coaches cleared from the site along with passengers and is moved to Danapur where additional coaches will be attached and the special train will move for Anand Vihar Terminal.

- All the injured passengers have been moved to nearby Hospitals, District Hospitals, and Railway Hospital.

- Adequate number of Doctors are available at the site. Ambulances have been pressed into service.

- All medical expenses of the injured passengers will be borne by Railways.

- Adequate free catering arrangements have been made at site, Patna, Hajipur and at hospitals for passengers. Commercial officers with teams are deployed at Hajipur and Danapur to take care.

- Arrangements for refunds to the passengers who do not continue their journey have been ensured at different stations.