Guwahati-bound Bikaner Express derails in WB's Jalpaiguri leaving 4 dead

Multiple bogies of the Bikaner Express (15633) have derailed in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district. Four people have been confirmed dead in the accident. Some estimates suggest that as many as 12 coaches suffered damage when the derailment took place.

The train that started from Bikaner in Rajasthan was heading to Guwahati in Assam via Patna when the accident took place near Mainaguri in Jalpaiguri around 5.15 pm on Thursday. Mainaguri was not one of the train's 34 stoppages and the Bikaner Express was merely passing Jalpaiguri at the time of the incident.

There were a total of 1,200 passengers on board, including 308 who boarded the train from



Bikaner.

"Following a sudden jerk, several bogies overturned," a passenger told one news agency.

Preliminary information indicates that several passengers are believed to have suffered injuries in the derailment. The injured are being taken to the Mainaguri and Jalpaiguri district hospitals.

Railway Police have already launched a search and rescue operation at the site of the derailment. Two teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) comprising 100 personnel are also on their way to the spot from Siliguri.

Jalpaiguri District Magistrate Moumita Godala Basu confirmed that over 20 people were injured in the accident. As many as 40 people have also been rescued from the scene.