News Analysis India

Tag: Jalpaiguri

  • 15 Dead, 60 Injured After Kanchenjunga Express Collides With Goods Train Near Bengal’s New Jalpaiguri |

    Kanchenjunga Accident: At least two rear compartments of the Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express derailed on Monday after a goods train collided with it near New Jalpaiguri station in West Bengal. According to reports, atleast 15 are feared dead, and 60 are injured after the unfortunate accident. Taking to X, PM posts: 

    PM @narendramodi has announced that an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased in the railway mishap in West Bengal. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000. https://t.co/2zsG6XJsGx


    — PMO India (@PMOIndia) June 17, 2024

    Express which runs between Silchar in Assam to Sealdah in Kolkata was Sealdah bound when a goods train hit it from behind near Rangapani station, located close to New Jalpaiguri in North Bengal, according to Sabyasachi De, Chief Public Relations Officer – Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR). Atleast two rear compartments were derailed under the impact of the collision from behind by the locomotive of the goods train near Rangapani station, about seven km from North Bengal’s New Jalpaiguri station. 

    CM Mamata Banerjee Initiates Action 

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in a post on X, said: “Shocked to learn, just now, about a tragic train accident, in Phansidewa area of Darjeeling district. While details are awaited, Kanchenjunga Express has reportedly been hit by a goods train.

    Shocked to learn, just now, about a tragic train accident, in Phansidewa area of Darjeeling district. While details are awaited, Kanchenjunga Express has reportedly been hit by a goods train. DM, SP, doctors, ambulances and disaster teams have been rushed to the site for rescue,…


    — Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) June 17, 2024

    “DM, SP, doctors, ambulances and disaster teams have been rushed to the site for rescue, recovery, medical assistance. Action on war-footing initiated.”

    Minister Vaishnaw: Rescue Operations Going On 

    Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said rescue operations are being carried out on a war footing. “Unfortunate accident in NFR zone. Rescue operations going on at war footing. Railways, NDRF and SDRF are working in close coordination. The injured are being shifted to the hospital. Senior officials have reached the site,” Vaishnaw posted on X. Sealdah Eastern Railway has set up a control desk at Rangapani station. 

    Unfortunate accident in NFR zone. Rescue operations going on at war footing. Railways, NDRF and SDRF are working in close coordination. Injured are being shifted to the hospital. Senior officials have reached site.
    — Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) June 17, 2024

    #WATCH | Goods train rams into Kanchenjunga Express train in Darjeeling district in West Bengal, several feared injured

    Details awaited. pic.twitter.com/8rPyHxccN0
    — ANI (@ANI) June 17, 2024

     

    How Did The Accident Happen?

    Sources in the Railways said that the goods container train overshot the signal and hit the rear parcel coach of the Kanchanjunga Express. Officials are reviewing the situation, the Railway officials said. The accident took place at Rangapani area in the Katihar Railway Division ahead of New Jalpaiguri Junction at around 8:45 am today.

  • West Bengal: At least eight drown in flash floods during idol immersion in Jalpaiguri

    By PTI

    JALPAIGURI: At least eight people drowned and several others went missing after they were swept away in the Mal river due to flash floods during idol immersion on Vijayadashami here, a senior official said.

    Four of the dead are women.

    The incident took place around 8.30 pm on Wednesday when hundreds of people gathered on the banks of the Mal river to participate in the immersion ceremony.

    “All of a sudden, flash floods struck and people were swept away. So far, eight bodies have been recovered and we have rescued around 50 people,” Jalpaiguri District Magistrate Moumita Godara told PTI. She said 13 people, who received minor injuries, were admitted to a nearby hospital.

    “The search and rescue operations are underway and being carried out by teams of the NDRF, SDRF, police and local administration. The search operations have started downstream,” she said.

    #WATCH | WB: Flash flood hits Mal River in Jalpaiguri during Durga Visarjan; 7 people dead, several feared missingMany people were trapped in river & many washed away. Bodies of 7 people were recovered. NDRF& civil defence deployed; rescue underway: Jalpaiguri SP Debarshi Dutta pic.twitter.com/cRT3nnp7Gz
    — ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2022
    State Backward Class Welfare Minister Bulu Chik Baraik, who is the MLA from the Mal Assembly constituency, feared that the death toll may increase.

    “I was present at the spot when the incident happened. Several people were swept away and the water current was very strong. Hundreds of people were present when the incident took place. Several are still missing,” he said. Baraik and senior TMC leaders rushed to the spot to oversee the relief and rescue operations. Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari requested the state administration to step up the rescue efforts.

    “Saddening news coming from Jalpaiguri as flash flood in Mal river during Durga Puja immersion swept away many people. Few deaths have been reported till now. I request the DM of Jalpaiguri & @chief_west to urgently step up rescue efforts & provide assistance to those in distress,” he tweeted. 

    JALPAIGURI: At least eight people drowned and several others went missing after they were swept away in the Mal river due to flash floods during idol immersion on Vijayadashami here, a senior official said.

    Four of the dead are women.

    The incident took place around 8.30 pm on Wednesday when hundreds of people gathered on the banks of the Mal river to participate in the immersion ceremony.

    “All of a sudden, flash floods struck and people were swept away. So far, eight bodies have been recovered and we have rescued around 50 people,” Jalpaiguri District Magistrate Moumita Godara told PTI. She said 13 people, who received minor injuries, were admitted to a nearby hospital.

    “The search and rescue operations are underway and being carried out by teams of the NDRF, SDRF, police and local administration. The search operations have started downstream,” she said.

    #WATCH | WB: Flash flood hits Mal River in Jalpaiguri during Durga Visarjan; 7 people dead, several feared missing
    Many people were trapped in river & many washed away. Bodies of 7 people were recovered. NDRF& civil defence deployed; rescue underway: Jalpaiguri SP Debarshi Dutta pic.twitter.com/cRT3nnp7Gz
    — ANI (@ANI) October 5, 2022
    State Backward Class Welfare Minister Bulu Chik Baraik, who is the MLA from the Mal Assembly constituency, feared that the death toll may increase.

    “I was present at the spot when the incident happened. Several people were swept away and the water current was very strong. Hundreds of people were present when the incident took place. Several are still missing,” he said. Baraik and senior TMC leaders rushed to the spot to oversee the relief and rescue operations. Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari requested the state administration to step up the rescue efforts.

    “Saddening news coming from Jalpaiguri as flash flood in Mal river during Durga Puja immersion swept away many people. Few deaths have been reported till now. I request the DM of Jalpaiguri & @chief_west to urgently step up rescue efforts & provide assistance to those in distress,” he tweeted. 

  • 13 illegal Rohingya immigrants nabbed in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri

    By PTI

    JALPAIGURI: Thirteen people, alleged to be illegal Rohingya immigrants, were apprehended at the New Jalpaiguri railway station in north Bengal, police said. Among them were six children and two women, a senior police officer said.

    They had arrived at the New Jalpaiguri station in two groups from New Delhi and Jammu on Friday evening to catch a train to Assam when the Government Railway Police (GRP) spotted them, he said. After questioning, they were apprehended and a case filed under The Foreigners Act, he added. “They were on the way to Rohingya camps in Bangladesh, via Assam and Tripura,” the officer said.

  • West Bengal: COVID-19 patient found dead in sitting position in hospital, family alleges negligence

    By PTI
    JALPAIGURI (WEST BENGAL) A COVID-19 positive patient was found dead in a sitting position on his bed at a government-run designated corona hospital in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Wednesday leading to demonstrations by his family members, police said.

    The patient’s family claimed that no doctor attended him since he was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday and he was not administered oxygen.

    According to the family members, the 52-year-old resident of Jalpaiguri town tested positive on Tuesday evening and was subsequently admitted to the district’s only COVID-19 hospital at Biswabangla Krirangan.

    The family members returned home after his admission to the hospital. When they went to the hospital on Wednesday morning to enquire about him, they saw the man sitting still on his bed. A nurse and a doctor on duty went to check him after the patient’s family raised an alarm and found him dead, they claimed.

    An officer of the force said that as the man’s family members demonstrated outside the hospital, police personnel reached the spot and brought the situation under control. The hospital authorities could not be contacted for comment on the incident.