Mangled compartments of the Uttar Banga Express and the Vananchal Express. Picture by Amit Datta

Sainthia, July 19: A speeding Sealdah-bound Uttar Banga Express smashed into the rear of another train just pulling out of a station in Birbhum early this morning, killing at least 60 people, the impact tossing a sliced-off compartment on an overbridge.

The 2.02am crash between the train from north Bengal and the Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vananchal Express came less than two months after the May 28 Jnaneswari Express sabotage by suspected Maoists killed 150 people in Rajabandh, West Midnapore.

Asked if she suspected another sabotage, railway minister Mamata Banerjee said: “I am suspicious about the cause of the accident. We have some doubts in our mind. Whatever happened is not a casual thing. We will take strong steps against those who are behind this.”

Mamata, who visited the accident spot in Sainthia, 223km from Calcutta, before meeting the injured passengers in hospital, said the railways would investigate why the Uttar Banga Express, which was supposed to halt at Sainthia was 25 minutes early. “How did the train arrive 25 minutes before time is being investigated,” she said.

Railway officials, however, said the train coming from Cooch Behar was over 30 minutes late.

Witnesses said the Vananchal Express, running nearly five hours late, had just started rolling out of platform No. 4 of Sainthia station when some hawkers spotted the headlight of an approaching train on the same track. They ran to assistant stationmaster Pulak Roy, who tried to alert the driver of the Uttar Banga Express over loudspeakers.

Within seconds it was clear that the driver wouldn’t be able to stop in time. Moments later, the engine of the speeding train slammed into the rear unreserved compartment of the Vananchal Express that also had a separate enclosure for the guard.

On the dimly lit platform, horrified onlookers watched as metal tore into metal, the deafening crash leaving the engine of the Uttar Banga train a mangled heap. Both drivers of the north Bengal train, M.C. Dey and N.K. Mondal, and the Vananchal Express guard, Amritangshu Mukherjee, were among the 62 dead. Most of those who died were from Bihar or Jharkhand.

The impact tossed the rear compartment of the Jharkhand-bound train on a pedestrian overbridge. The second-last compartment, also unreserved, got derailed and overturned.

Some 94 injured people were taken to Suri Sadar Hospital. Forty-one of them were referred to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, where one died. Ten injured people were referred to SSKM Hospital from Burdwan.

At the station, local residents joined Government Railway Police in rescue work with torches and cellphone flashlights. “There were cries for help and we didn’t know where to begin. It was dark and we got down on the tracks. Some bodies had fallen on the tracks through broken doors and windows,” said Class XII student Sabyasachi Mukherjee who had come to see off a relative on the Vananchal Express.

The dead were laid out on the platform while rescuers helped the injured out of the two smashed compartments of the Vananchal Express.

Most passengers of the Uttar Banga Express were too traumatised to get down. “I will not be able to erase from my mind two horrific scenes,” said Rabindranath Ghosh, a Trinamul Congress leader who was coming from Cooch Behar. “The trapped bodies of the engine driver and his assistant… and the sight of a youth, one of his legs severed from knee downwards, limping out of the train.”

A relief train arrived from Rampurhat around 3.15am, followed by two others from Asansol and Burdwan.

Birbhum district magistrate Saumitra Mohan and superintendent of police Humayun Kabir reached the spot and arranged for 15 ambulances to take the injured to hospital. Police vans took the dead to the Suri hospital morgue.

“It is very difficult to say immediately why the accident occurred. I have ordered an inquiry,” Mamata said.

She announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the next of kin of each of the dead and employment for a family member; Rs 1 lakh for the seriously injured and Rs 25,000 for those who suffered minor injuries.

Finance minister Asim Dasgupta led a team of ministers to the accident site and demanded an “in-depth” inquiry. “We want stern action against those responsible,” he added.

Dasgupta said the Bengal government would give Rs 3 lakh to the next of kin of those killed and bear the cost of treatment of the injured.