At least three persons died and 29 were injured after 10 coaches of the Ernakulam-bound 12618 Nizamuddin-Ernakulam Mangala Lakshdweep express derailed at Ghoti near Igatpuri station in Nashik at 6.25 am on Friday. Many trains were cancelled, terminated or diverted due to the accident.

One of the deceased has been identified as Rajiv Khushwaha (31). The reason behind the mishap is yet to be ascertained.

"We heard a loud noise at around 6 am today and saw the train getting derailed. Two compartments preceding the pantry car, S10 and S11, jumped in the air before landing off the tracks. We immediately ran to the rescue of the people. We pulled out more than 100 people, and saw at least two dead bodies," 35-year old Vilas Bhagat, a hotel owner who was one of the many localites who rushed to the rescue of the victims, told The Hindu.

"I was heading home for holidays in Kannur. I boarded the train on Thursday evening in the hope that I will reach home soon. We were asleep when the mishap took place. We only heard a loud noise. The jerk woke us up. We managed to come out of the tilted compartment. None of us in the compartment sustained any grievous injuries," 27-year old Sajivan K, an armyman from Kannur, said.

Authorities had to wait for a large crane for a few hours as some of the compartments had piled up.

"The railway police and the rural police have manually inspected the coaches. It seems unlikely that there will be more casualties. But we will be able to ascertain it only after the piled up compartments are lifted with the help of the crane," Vikram Deshmane, Additional Superintendent of Police (Nashik Rural), told The Hindu. He added that the residents rushed to the accident site in large numbers to rescue the victims.

"The train was coming from Bhusawal and going towards Mumbai. At least nine coaches have derailed completely. The train has tilted between the two tracks, which have been closed now. Eight persons were seriously injured in the mishap. 37 were injured. They have been moved to various hospitals in Nashik and Ghoti," he said.

Special arrangements were made by the railway authorities to take the rescued passengers from the site of the accident to Kasara and Igatpuri. A special train was sent from the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai to Igatpuri to ply the passengers from Igatpuri to Ernakulam. "The train will run as 12618 Mangala Express Special from Igatpuri to Ernakulam," a press release issued by the Central Railway stated.

Repercussion

22101 LTT-Manmad Rajyarani express had to be cancelled due to the derailment. The other trains which were cancelled were: 12109 CSTM-Manmad Panchavati express, 51153 CSTM-Bhusawal Passenger, 22102 Manmad-LTT Rajyarani express, 12110 Manmad-CSTM Panchavati express, 51154 Bhusawal-CSTM Passenger, 17618 Nanded-CSTM Tapovan express.

The following helpline numbers have been provided by the Central Railway authorities:

Kalyan: 0251- 2311499

Igatpuri: 02553-244020

Panvel: 022-27468833

CSTM/Mumbai CST: 022-22694040

Trichur: 0487-2430060

Ernakulam: 0484-2100317

New Delhi: 011-23341074 / 011-23342954

Hazrat Nizamuddin: 011-24359748