KADALUNDI, 24 June — Rescue officials have given up hope of finding any more survivors from the wreckage of a train that plunged into a river in the southern state of Kerala killing at least 59 people, police said yesterday.
Rescue officials said they had recovered most of the bodies inside the three wagons of the Mangalore-Chennai Mail and that the rescue operation was winding down.
The train fell into the Kadalundi River after a 120-year-old bridge collapsed on Friday night. Four bodies trapped in the submerged wagons were recovered yesterday, police said.
“We have given up hope of finding any more survivors,” Kerala police deputy superintendent C.K. Thulsi Das said. Railways Minister Nitish Kumar, who arrived at the scene yesterday said the death toll had risen to 59, including the bodies recovered yesterday. He said another 241 people were injured, with 83 in a critical condition.
Many of those who survived the accident were rescued by local villagers who rushed to the scene and pulled passengers through the windows of the flooded wagons.
Fisherman Lallu Vepur, 35, who was one of the first to arrive at the site of the accident, said he found people tangled inside the carriages. “When I got there I could see at least 15 bodies,” Vepur said. “Then, I started going deeper into the water and immediately rescued two men. But within half-an-hour, a strong tide swept in and it was very difficult to see inside the compartments. “We all started searching frantically for the people. I saved twelve of them. Most of the people had either their hands or legs tangled inside the compartments. “We found two children completely unhurt, but they did not know where there parents were.”
Officials said torrential rain had contributed to the collapse of the bridge and hampered overnight rescue efforts. Six wagons left the tracks in the accident, three of them falling off the bridge and into the swollen river below. Two were yesterday still dangling from the bridge.
Most of the deaths and injuries were caused by the fall, rather than from drowning, hospital officials said. Dr. R. Sunil, from the Medical College hospital, where around 100 of the injured were taken, said most had broken bones and head injuries. “Fifteen are seriously injured. Many of the patients are in the corridors as we have not got enough room for them all,” he said.
At the hospital, anxious relatives checked the lists of dead and injured that were put up outside the building.
Most of the bodies had been identified by yesterday and had been claimed by relatives. Retired government employee Rama Chandran, 67, was in the unreserved compartment of the train and injured his head in the fall into the river. “I am in an absolute state of shock. The four compartments crashed all of a sudden and suddenly I saw my co-passengers completely immersed in water. Three of them died. I was lucky to survive.” Kumar told reporters he had ordered the Commissioner of Railways to conduct an inquiry into the tragedy, although he was already prepared to speculate on the cause of the accident. Meanwhile, eight coaches of the train which escaped derailment and carrying 60 survivors arrived in the southern city of Madras late yesterday, an official said.
