3 Indian railway officials arrested in connection with fatal train crash that claimed over 290 lives

India’s federal crime agency said Friday it has arrested three railway officials in connection with one of the country’s deadliest train accidents, which killed more than 290 people last month.

The arrested men have been charged with culpable homicide without murder and destruction of evidence, the Central Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. It identified them as two signal engineers and one technician, and said the investigation is ongoing.

June’s train crash in eastern Odisha state occurred when a packed passenger train was mistakenly diverted onto an adjacent loop line where it rammed into a stationary freight train loaded with iron ore. The collision derailed the passenger train’s coaches onto another track where they struck a passing train that was running in the opposite direction.

The two passenger trains were carrying more than 2,290 people when the collision took place. Nearly 1,000 people were injured.

3 NEW ZEALAND TOUR OPERATORS PLEAD GUILTY TO SAFETY BREACHES IN DEADLY WHITE ISLAND VOLCANO ERUPTION

After the accident, India’s railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the cause of the crash was related to the signalling system.

India, a country of 1.42 billion people, has one of the world’s most extensive and complicated railways built during the British colonial era: more than 40,000 miles of tracks, 14,000 passenger trains and 8,000 stations. Spread across the country from the Himalayas in the north to the beaches in the south, it is also a system that is weakened by decades of mismanagement and neglect.

Despite efforts to improve safety, several hundred accidents happen every year, and most such crashes are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.

The June crash was India’s deadliest since 1995, when two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people. In 2016, a passenger train slid off the tracks between the cities of Indore and Patna, killing 146 people.

India’s federal crime agency said Friday it has arrested three railway officials in connection with one of the country’s deadliest train accidents, which killed more than 290 people last month.

The arrested men have been charged with culpable homicide without murder and destruction of evidence, the Central Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. It identified them as two signal engineers and one technician, and said the investigation is ongoing.

June’s train crash in eastern Odisha state occurred when a packed passenger train was mistakenly diverted onto an adjacent loop line where it rammed into a stationary freight train loaded with iron ore. The collision derailed the passenger train’s coaches onto another track where they struck a passing train that was running in the opposite direction.

The two passenger trains were carrying more than 2,290 people when the collision took place. Nearly 1,000 people were injured.

3 NEW ZEALAND TOUR OPERATORS PLEAD GUILTY TO SAFETY BREACHES IN DEADLY WHITE ISLAND VOLCANO ERUPTION

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

After the accident, India’s railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the cause of the crash was related to the signalling system.

India, a country of 1.42 billion people, has one of the world’s most extensive and complicated railways built during the British colonial era: more than 40,000 miles of tracks, 14,000 passenger trains and 8,000 stations. Spread across the country from the Himalayas in the north to the beaches in the south, it is also a system that is weakened by decades of mismanagement and neglect.

Despite efforts to improve safety, several hundred accidents happen every year, and most such crashes are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.

The June crash was India’s deadliest since 1995, when two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people. In 2016, a passenger train slid off the tracks between the cities of Indore and Patna, killing 146 people.

Related articles

You may also be interested in

Matt Gaetz: I’m Not Returning to Congress

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who resigned from the House after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for attorney general only to withdraw from consideration to run

Headline

Never Miss A Story

Get our Weekly recap with the latest news, articles and resources.
Cookie policy

We use our own and third party cookies to allow us to understand how the site is used and to support our marketing campaigns.