4 killed in North East Express derailment; probe ordered

Four people were killed and 40 injured after five coaches of the North East Express derailed late Wednesday night near Raghunathpur station in Bihar's Buxar district. A Railway Police Force officer, however, said that at least 70 were injured and in local hospitals. The railways has ordered a high-level inquiry.

"Ten patients have been admitted to the Trauma Centre of AIIMS-Patna. Six had minor injuries," its executive director doctor Gopal Krushna Pal told PTI. Four persons have fractures. "No one required ventilator support. No one is in a life-threatening condition," he said.

"A high-level inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of the accident," East Central Railway chief public relations officer Birendra Kumar said in a statement. Railways also promised the next of kin of the dead Rs 10 lakh each. The injured will receive Rs 50,000 each. The Bihar government too announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the kin of the dead.


Chief minister Nitish Kumar said that of the four, one was from Bihar. His Assam counterpart posted on social media that two were from the state.

"Our priority is to clear the tracks. Until normal traffic is restored, trains running on the route will be diverted," ECR general manager Tarun Prakash told PTI-Video. Cranes and equipment used in cutting through metal were used for clearing the tracks.