Zee Media Bureau
Lucknow: A probe will begin on Thursday into the Gorakhdham Express mishap, even as the death toll in the incident rose to 28 on Wednesday.
Reports said Chief Commissioner of Safety (Railways) Prabhat Kumar Bajpayi will arrive at the site of Gorakhdham Express-goods train collision in Sant Kabir Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, today and begin investigating the reasons that led to the mishap.
The toll in the accident rose to 28 with the discovery of the badly mauled body of the assistant driver of the train.
Identified as Ravi Ranjan, resident of Bihar, the assistant driver was found in the mangled remains of the engine of the train.
Railway officials said seven injured passengers continue to be critical.
As many as 53 passengers are admitted at various medical facilities.
Officials fear that the number of dead could increase as cranes and cutters were still at work.
It is time-consuming operation but we are trying to be sure that no one is in the debris of the coaches, a North-Eastern Railways official overseeing the operations said.
The Gorakhpur bound Gorakhdham Express rammed into a stationary goods train in Sant Kabir Nagar on Monday. Union Minister Kalraj Mishra and Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha Tuesday visited the accident site and announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh for the families of the dead and Rs 1 lakh for those critically injured.
(With IANS inputs)
