(Calcutta) A ninth person died following the collision of a freight train with a passenger train in eastern India on Monday, the Eastern Railway said on Tuesday.
“The death toll rose to nine after the death of an injured passenger,” spokesperson Kausik Mitra told AFP. “Around forty people are still hospitalized, but their condition is stable,” added this source.
Survivors interviewed by AFP said they were still in shock the day after the disaster in the state of West Bengal.
“I thought I wouldn’t survive,” said a passenger, Arti Roy, who lost her luggage in the tragedy.
The accident occurred in Phansidewa, between Bangladesh and Nepal, where a goods convoy collided with a passenger train from behind, lifting a wagon about fifteen meters above the ground and making it derail several others.
“It was a horrible experience,” Antara Das, 35, who boarded the train to the regional capital Calcutta, told AFP. “God saved us. »
According to Indian Railways Board Chairman Jaya Varma Sinha, the drivers of the freight train had “ignored” a light signal and died in the accident.
The passenger train was carrying more than 500 people and the toll from the accident could have been much heavier, underlined the manager, who noted that the three tail wagons, which took most of the shock, were not transporting of passengers.
The intact part of the train was able to reach Calcutta with its passengers during the night.
Train accidents are common in India, the most populous country in the world with a sprawling railway network.
In June last year, nearly 300 people died in a collision between three trains in the eastern state of Odisha, following a switching error.
In October, at least 14 people died in Andhra Pradesh after a train conductor ignored a light signal. According to the Railway Ministry, he was watching a cricket match on his phone.
The authorities have increased investments to improve network security, notably through electronic signaling systems.
But these efforts are not enough to reassure Jahangir Alam, 35, a local resident who rushed to the accident site on Monday to help.
“Every time we think about taking the train, we are consumed by fear,” he told AFP.