Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday spoke to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and took stock of situation in the wake of a rail accident involving Bikaner Express at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal in which five passengers were reportedly died and many injured.
A PMO note said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and taken stock of the situation in the wake of the train accident in West Bengal.
The Prime Minister in a tweet said, “Spoke to Railways Minister Shri @AshwiniVaishnaw and took stock of the situation in the wake of the train accident in West Bengal. My thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly.”
A total of 1,200 passengers were on board the ill-fated train at the time of accident which took place around 5:15 pm in the evening on Thursday. Of the total number of passengers, 308 had boarded the train from Bikaner. According to an eyewitness many bogies of the train were overturned after a sudden jerk. The injured were taken to the Mainaguri and Jalpaiguri district hospitals.
Two teams of the NDRF rushed to the spot of the accident from Siliguri. The Railway Protection Force personnel began a search and rescue operations at the site of the accident. About 12 coaches of the Guwahati bound train suffered damage due to derailment, according to reports.