JOIN USEighteen people were reportedly killed when an auto-rickshaw rammed into the Rapti-Ganga Express at Sugauli near Motihari on Monday evening.
The train was coming from Muzaffarpur in Bihar and headed for Dehradun in Uttarakhand.
The auto was carrying passengers much more than its load capacity. The victims, including four children and six women, were returning after attending the Janamasthmi festival at a nearby temple.
According to railway sources, the overloaded auto was dragged to few hundred metres by the train.
According to reports reaching here, the irate villagers gheraoed the train and demanded adequate compensation to the family of those killed. Meanwhile, Samastipur Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) rushed to the site in a special train along with engineers and other technical staff.
Railway sources, however, said 15 people were killed in the collision. Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (DCM) announced compensation of Rs 50,000 each for those killed and Rs 20,000 for the seriously injured.
“The Motihari DM and SP are camping at the incident site. Relief and rescue operations are in full swing. The mishap took place due to criminal negligence of the gateman,” said an eyewitness Bachcha Patel, who was travelling in the train to Dehradun.