3 more seriously injured persons shifted to KGH, 1 brought dead

Visakhapatnam: Three more seriously injured persons were shifted to King George Hospital (KGH) in Visakhapatnam from the Vizianagaram government general hospital on Monday. Another person undergoing treatment at the Railway Hospital in Visakhapatnam was brought dead to KGH, said KGH Superintendent Dr K. Ashok Kumar.

He said the condition of two women, one with broken ribs and another with a fractured pelvic girdle, is stated to be serious.

Meanwhile, the railway authorities put the death toll at 13 on Monday, with 50 injured. One body lying in the Vizianagaram government general hospital is yet to be identified.

The train accident was the second biggest mishap under the Waltair Division of East Coast Railway in the past few decades.

Though it was a ghastly train accident, the death toll is low (13) because the trains were not overcrowded. Normally, the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada and Visakhapatnam-Palasa trains are overcrowded from Monday to Saturday, as most employees, students, and workers travel on them. But on Sunday, on account of the holiday, there were fewer passengers in both trains, resulting in minimum casualties, said railway officials.

Superintendent of Police, Vizianagaram, Deepika M. said that 12 out of the 13 bodies have been identified, and only one victim awaits identification at the government hospital morgue.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) ended their rescue operation on Monday morning after retrieving the body of the loco pilot. The teams took hours to retrieve the body, as it was badly crushed in the engine cabin. The teams rescued several victims and retrieved the bodies from the spot since they were deployed after the accident on October 29 night.