Gaya, Bihar:
Passengers onboard the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express had a miraculous escape when seven of its coaches and the engine derailed near Gaya station following an explosion triggered by suspected Maoists late Monday night, police said. (
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There was no casualty or serious injury, Gaya district Superintendent of Police Sushil Khopde said, adding none of the derailed bogies fell on its side which possibly was the reason why no casualty took place.
A major disaster was averted as the train was moving at a very slow speed. The seven coaches which jumped the track did not crash because of the slow speed. The train was travelling at 75 km per hour, a restriction put on all night trains in the area fearing trouble during the naxal bandh. The down route has now been restored, and all trains coming from the north to the eastern regions of the country are using this track.
Sanjay Saraogi, a passenger of the D-3 coach, one of the seven derailed bogies, told PTI that none of the passengers were harmed in the incident.
Passengers were taken to Mughalsarai by a rescue train from where a special train was arranged to send them to New Delhi, the railway sources said.
"We heard the sound of a blast, but to my knowledge no harm has been caused to the passengers in the affected bogies," he said from the spot, about 15 km from Gaya station.
The explosive planted in the tracks between Kasta and Paraiya stations went off shortly after the train left Gaya station, Khopde said, adding a medical team with rescue train was sent to the spot.
The impact of the blast caused a 4-feet-wide crater twisting the railway tracks completely. It's evident that the Maoists used powerful explosives which were planted in the section between Kasta and Paraiya stations near Gaya. The driver and passengers say they heard a loud explosion soon after the train left Gaya station. Hearing the sound of the blast, the driver applied the brakes.
The spot of the explosion is under Gaya-Mughalsarai section of the East Central Railway.
The 48-hour bandh has been called by the CPI (Maoist) in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and three districts of Maharashtra to protest against the 'Operation Green Hunt' launched against them.
Also read:Maoist bandh agenda - Coordinated attacks on trains