At least four passengers died and 70 others injured when six coaches of the Delhi-Kamakhya North East Express derailed near the Raghunathpur station in Bihar's Buxar district on Wednesday night, officials said.
The derailment occurred at 9:53 pm and at least two AC III Tier coaches had toppled over while four other coaches jumped the tracks, television visuals showed.
Buxar Superintendent of Police Manish Kumar told PTI four passengers had died in the accident. A Railway Police Force official said at least 70 passengers have been injured and shifted to local hospitals. Those with serious injuries were rushed to AIIMS, Patna.
Will find the root cause of derailment, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on X, even as he expressed condolences for the loss of lives.
The minister said evacuation and rescue operations were completed and all coaches have been checked.
The 23-coach 12506 North East Express had departed the Anand Vihar terminal in Delhi at 7:40 am on Wednesday for its nearly 33-hour journey to Kamakhya, about six kilometres away from Guwahati.
"The train was coming at a normal speed but suddenly we heard a loud sound and a plume of smoke rose out of the train. We rushed to see what happened. We saw that the train had derailed and the AC coaches were the most damaged, Hari Pathak, a local resident said.
Television visuals showed locals rushing to the rescue of the passengers and helping them come out of at least two toppled coaches. The visuals also showed a woman passenger in a state of shock being helped out of a coach by locals.
Several police officials were also seen at the spot helping rescue passengers from the train.
Chief Public Relations Officer of East Central Railway zone Birendra Kumar told that the accident took place less than half an hour after the train left the Buxar station and was headed for Ara.
"The derailment took place near Raghunathpur station where the train does not have a scheduled stoppage," he said.
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