Valigonda Train Disaster - Accident Details

Accident Details

The train was traveling south at night, packed with hundreds of sleeping holiday makers visiting relatives for Divali, when a huge irrigation tank situated up stream from the rail lines ruptured, sending thousands of gallons of water down the channel, destroying the bridge in the darkness. When the passenger train hit the broken section a short time later, nobody had reported the damage, and the engine and seven coaches of the train disappeared into the gap created by the broken line. Four coaches crashed into a field close to where the track had been, whilst three more fell into the channel and were swept farther afield into deeper water, where most of the fatalities occurred.

In the day following the accident, the Indian Navy supplied divers, who dived into the flood waters with blow-torches to try to rescue people who may have been trapped in air pockets in the sunken carriages. Reportedly, several people were rescued this way. The army and air force also provided assistance with rescue, medical and heavy lift helicopters, by collecting bodies and maintaining security at the site.

The area had been lashed by monsoon rains for several weeks before the accident, which had waterlogged fields and over-filled the irrigation tank, which had ruptured due to unknown factors exacerbated by the heavy volume of rainfall. The flooding had also destroyed several roads, hampering efforts to get emergency personnel to the scene quickly. India's Junior Transport Minister commented on the disaster:

"Little could have been done to avoid the accident".