At least six persons, including two children, were injured when a loco rammed into a coach of a local train at the Bamanhat station in Cooch Behar district on Tuesday morning.
The injured have been treated at a local health centre while the coach has suffered damage. The railway authorities, however, claimed only two persons suffered injuries.
Sources said the 15468 Bamanhat-Siliguri Intercity Express that was supposed to leave for Siliguri Junction was standing at the Bamanhat station. At that time, the loco, which was detached from the train as it reached Bamanhat earlier, was supposed to be attached to the same train on the other side.
“It was a case of rough shunting at the Bamanhat station by the shunting staff of the 15468 Dn train at the time of loco reversal. Departmental action is being taken against the shunting staff responsible for the rough shunting,” said an official of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR).
Munni Khatun, a passenger who was seated in the coach into which the loco rammed, said: “There was a loud sound and many of us fell on the floor. I even lost my senses. I was on my way to Nagrakata and suffered injuries. Later, we learned that a loco had rammed into the coach. The coach also got damaged,” she said.
After the incident, the injured passengers got off and went to the primary health centre in Bamanhat. While some of them cancelled their trips, others returned to the station to take the train.
Abhay Kumar Sanap, the senior divisional commercial division of the Alipurduar division, said the injured did not approach any railway staff and left on their own. “Later, when they returned to the station, our doctors examined them and found that two of them had suffered injuries. We have handed over an ex-gratia of ₹5,000 to both,” said Sanap.