Premature to ascertain cause of accident: Trivedi

From ANI

Arakkonam (Tamil Nadu), Sep.14: Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday said it would be premature to state the cause behind the train collision that occurred here on Tuesday night.

The mishap claimed nine lives and injured 72.

Trivedi was speaking to media while inspecting the accident site in Arakkonam.

A moving local train plying between Chennai Beach and Vellore had rammed into the stationary train at about 9.30 p.m. on September 13.

"We have to go in the depth of it, it will be too premature for me at this moment to talk about the cause of the accident. It is too early; it will not be a fair proposition to talk about it. Let the experts give us the preliminary report which is going to come soon and then only we can come to some kind of reason. All I can tell you is the signals, railway system, everything was working in order. Inspite of that why it has happened, why it was not stopped at the signal, these are the things one has to see, one has to get into the details but this is not the right time even to ask the memo coach operator because he himself is in trauma," Trivedi said.

After meeting the injured and their families Trivedi said most of the injured are out of danger.

"Our priority is to ensure that all the injured are taken care of. I met the relatives of the injured, I met most of the injured people and the doctors have assured that none of them are critical. Some of them have got some serious injury but it is not life threatening," he said.

Announcing the compensation for the victims, Trivedi said the railway ministry's priority is to provide all possible facilities to the injured victims.

"As far as the compensation is concerned, life can never be compensated with money. However, the ex-gratia of five lakhs (500 thousands) for the unfortunate people who lost their lives, those who were injured seriously they have been given one lakh (100 thousands) and 25 thousand to people who have simple injuries. At the moment, the task is to ensure that all those who are injured, they go home in a nice manner and the families are looked after," he said.

Trivedi further said that its second priority was to clear the track of debris so that the rail traffic could restart.

The impact of the crash was so severe that a coach of the passenger train that runs between Arakkonam and Vellore was damaged completely.

Families and relatives of the victims rushed to the hospital to identify the bodies of their loved ones but some were mangled beyond recognition.


Copyright Asian News International/DailyIndia.com