Confusion over death toll in Bilaspur train accident

Bilaspur/Raipur, October 23, 2011: Confusion over the death toll was continued for the second day today when various media reported 18 people dead, the Indian Railways corrected its own figure and claimed only eleven persons have been killed in yesterday evening railway level crossing accident.

"Eleven people have been killed and eight injured yesterday evening as a passenger train ran over them at the Tarbahar manned crossing in the outskirt of Bilaspur town," Chief Spokesman of the South Eastern Central Railways Manish Awasthi told ChhattisgarhTopNews.Com.

"Since the bodies were badly mutilated and beyond recognition the process to identify them took so much time," he clarified while talking about a fresh figure of death toll.

The SECR yesterday had in a release said 12 people were killed and seven injured in the accident, took place on the busy Mumbai-Kolkata main line yesterday evening.

Looking into the mutilated bodies it was suspected that 18 people had been killed in that incident, but after proper identification the final figure was eleven dead, Awasthi clarified.

"The manned level crossing was closed for passing of several trains on both the up and down tracks. However, without waiting for the gates to be opened people sneaked into the area with cycle, motor cycles or by foot," another SECR official Santosh Kumar said.

"After crossing one track, those people found two speedy trains approaching them on both the up and down tracks and got sandwich and killed," Kumar said adding they came under the speedy Bilaspur Raipur Passenger train.

Seeing so many mutilated bodies local residents got agitated and set on fire at least ten vehicles and damaged some trains and to quell the mob railway protection force opened fire in which one person sustained bullet injuries.

"One person sustained bullet injury on Saturday night where as in stone throwing incident by the mob five Railway Protection Force personnel were injured," Santosh Kumar said.

Heavy police force has been deployed in the area to maintain law and order, said Bilaspur IG Arun Dev Gautam.

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