<p>At least 39 people were killed and 69 injured when the engine and nine coaches of the Hirakhand Express jumped the tracks in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The railways suspect sabotage behind the derailment, the third in as many months.<br />The engine and coaches of the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar train went off the track near Kuneru station around 11 pm on Saturday, Chief PRO of East Coast Railway J P Mishra said.<br /><br />Seven passengers are critical, while 20 left for their destinations after treatment, officials said.<br /><br />Rescue operations were almost over, the divisional railway manager’s office said on Sunday evening, adding that they don’t expect to find any more bodies in the mangled coaches.<br /><br />Two AC coaches, four sleeper and two general compartments and the guard-cum-passenger coach, besides the locomotive of the train, were affected. Four coaches had overturned.<br /><br />Railway spokesperson Anil Saxena said there are indications of foul play as a goods train passed on the same track just two hours before the accident, which occurred in the Maoist-prone zone days ahead of Republic Day.<br /><br />According to the Railways, prima facie there was a rail fracture that caused the derailment. But it has to be ascertained whether the fracture was due to sabotage or negligence and lack of maintenance.<br /><br />“The real cause will be known only after an inquiry by the Railway Safety Commissioner,” Saxena said.<br /><br />Home Ministry sources said it may ask the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate if the derailment was a subversive act. “The NIA can expand the scope of its ongoing probe,” a source said.<br /><br />The agency is looking into the claims of three arrested persons that the derailment of the Indore-Patna Express on November 20, 2016, in which at least 150 people were killed, was carried out at the behest of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).<br />PTI</p>
<p>At least 39 people were killed and 69 injured when the engine and nine coaches of the Hirakhand Express jumped the tracks in Andhra Pradesh’s Vizianagaram district. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The railways suspect sabotage behind the derailment, the third in as many months.<br />The engine and coaches of the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar train went off the track near Kuneru station around 11 pm on Saturday, Chief PRO of East Coast Railway J P Mishra said.<br /><br />Seven passengers are critical, while 20 left for their destinations after treatment, officials said.<br /><br />Rescue operations were almost over, the divisional railway manager’s office said on Sunday evening, adding that they don’t expect to find any more bodies in the mangled coaches.<br /><br />Two AC coaches, four sleeper and two general compartments and the guard-cum-passenger coach, besides the locomotive of the train, were affected. Four coaches had overturned.<br /><br />Railway spokesperson Anil Saxena said there are indications of foul play as a goods train passed on the same track just two hours before the accident, which occurred in the Maoist-prone zone days ahead of Republic Day.<br /><br />According to the Railways, prima facie there was a rail fracture that caused the derailment. But it has to be ascertained whether the fracture was due to sabotage or negligence and lack of maintenance.<br /><br />“The real cause will be known only after an inquiry by the Railway Safety Commissioner,” Saxena said.<br /><br />Home Ministry sources said it may ask the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate if the derailment was a subversive act. “The NIA can expand the scope of its ongoing probe,” a source said.<br /><br />The agency is looking into the claims of three arrested persons that the derailment of the Indore-Patna Express on November 20, 2016, in which at least 150 people were killed, was carried out at the behest of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).<br />PTI</p>