13 killed as train rams auto in Odisha

Thirteen people were killed and six others sustained injuries, when an express train rammed into an over-loaded auto at an unmanned railway level crossing in the Sambalpur district of western Odisha on Friday morning.

Police sources quoting eyewitnesses said, the accident took place when the Inter-City Express traveling from Rourkela to Bhubaneswar hit the auto which was carrying as many as 19 people, majority of them women agricultural labourers, at the unmanned level crossing at Khairapali located about 14 km from Sambalpur.

The train dragged the three wheeler up to nearly 200 metre on the railway track killing 12, including the auto driver on the spot. One died while being shifted to hospital. Of the 13 killed, 12 were women.

All the injured persons have been admitted into a government-run medical college at Burla near Sambalpur town.  

Tension prevailed in the area after the relatives of the victims reached the spot and sat on the railway track demanding adequate compensation for the victims’ families besides, turning the unmanned level crossing into a manned one.

Normalcy was restored only after the East Coast Railways authorities and police who had rushed to the spot gave an assurance that the demands would be considered sympathetically.