Army to carry out rescue operation through the night

Pukhrayan (UP): The army on Sunday said it will carry out rescue operation at the site of the derailed Indore- Patna Express here through the night even as it deployed an armoured recovery vehicle to clear the wreckage.

The army has pressed into action 90 rescue personnel and a 50-member medical team, which included five doctors.

Kanpur Station Commander of the army Brig. B M Sharma said, "We have plans to work through the night. We have put up lights. Though the railway cranes are working, we have got our armoured recovery vehicle here to speed up the operation."

Such a vehicle is used to lift tanks and pull out heavy objects as smaller cranes are not suitable for these purposes, he said.

Sharma said the army is in touch with the civil administration and all other agencies, including the NDRF. "All are functioning together," he said.

Brig Anurag Chibber said the force personnel were using metal cutters to open up the mangled bogies of the train.

At least 120 people were killed and more than 200 injured, nearly half of them grievously, in the worst train accident in recent years when 14 coaches of the Indore-Patna Express derailed here in Kanpur rural area.

The army has pressed into action 90 rescue personnel and a 50-member medical team, which included five doctors.