Hirakhand Express Derailment: Investigation Begins, NIA Team Visits Spot

Kuneru, Andhra Pradesh: 40 people died as the Hirakhand Express derailed at the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border on Saturday night at Kuneru station. A National Investigation Agency or NIA team visited the area on Monday to look into suspicions of sabotage. Sources say, following the revelations by suspects arrested in connection with the Kanpur train tragedy from Motihari in Bihar, the NIA is looking at all possible angles, even though it has not been asked to investigate the case yet. The probe is being conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Andhra Pradesh Police and the Commissioner of Railway Safety is also conducting a statutory enquiry.

Sources in the Andhra Police CID team indicate that a rail fracture may be the immediate cause of the derailment as the train was travelling at high speed. But several experts have been brought in to examine the evidence available at the accident site. Senior officers from the CID, including ADG Dwarka Tirumal Rao and IG Amit Garg, visited the spot and spent around two hours there.

"We have brought in teams from RFSL Vizag, RFSL Vijayawada and a team from FSL Hyderabad. Experts have been called in from explosives field. Physics and chemistry experts have also come," Dwarka Tirumal Rao, Additional DG (CID), Andhra Police said.

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The Commissioner of Railway Safety is also conducting a statutory enquiry. Mr Ram Kripal, who visited the spot along with the Divisional Railway Manager, said "Yes it is a fact there is a fractured rail. I have seen it and observed it. But till is tested that nothing can be said conclusively."

Meanwhile, officials say the death toll could have been a lot higher had rescue teams not reached the spot soon after the accident.

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Chotu, a daily wage labourer from Begusarai in Bihar, was travelling with 14 other family members and was asleep when the train derailed. Seven members of his family died but luckily Chotu and his sister were pulled out from the wreckage, alive. Recounting the horror, 16-year-old Sangita Dhamin told NDTV, "Suddenly the coach started shaking and it tilted. We fell on each other and hurt ourselves. Seven of our people died. Some survived. Four women died. They have children. They have died."