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Gorakhpur: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visits Gorakhpur medical college to meet Kushinagar train accident victims on Thursday. PTI Photo(PTI4_26_2018_000094B)[/caption]
Kushinagar (UP), April 26 (PTI): Thirteen children on their way to school were killed today when a train rammed into their van at an unmanned railway crossing in Kushinagar, leaving blood-splattered bodies, water bottles and school bags strewn around.
Five others were injured as the Thawe-Kapatanganj passenger train hit the van carrying 25 people, mostly children from Divine Public School, at 7 am.
Local people who rushed to the level crossing gate at Behpurva, about 50 km from Gorakhpur, saw bodies of children, aged between 8 and 10 lying about.
Some eyewitnesses said the driver, who is among the injured, tried to speed across the level crossing even when onlookers tried to draw his attention to the approaching train.
One eyewitness said that the van then got stuck in the middle of the rail tracks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply pained” over the accident action.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi also expressed grief.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who reached Kushinagar to get a first-hand account, faced protests from the local people.
An angry crowd at the accident spot raised slogans against railway and local authorities. Some protesters squatted on the tracks demanding that railway personnel should be posted at the unmanned crossing to avoid such accidents.
The train was on way to Gorakhpur from Siwan. The gate 45 near Dudhi station falls in Railway’s Varanasi division.
An official spokesperson said the `gate mitra’ tried to stop the van from crossing the tracks, but failed.
The Kushinagar accident is the first mishap at an unmanned level crossing this financial year. In 2017-18, there were three such accidents. The railway network has 5,792 such crossings without gates regulating road traffic.
Adityanath told reporters in Kushinagar that the van driver appeared to be at fault.
He announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the families of the victims. He said the state government will take strict action against those found responsible for the laxity.
The Railways also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the kin of each child killed in the accident.
The dead were identified as Hari Om (8), (8), Atiullah (10), Arshad (10), Anash (10), Qamran (8), Farhan (10), Sajida (10), Tamanna (8), Miraz (9), Muskan (9), Ravi (10), Tunnu (9) and Ragini (8).
UP Congress Legislature Party leader Ajay Singh Lallu also went to the accident site to supervise relief work. He demanded a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for the families of each dead child.
