Three killed, 60 injured as Bangalore-Kochi Intercity express derails near Tamil Nadu

Bangalore/Kochi: Three passengers died as the Kochi bound Bangalore-Kochi Intercity train derailed on Friday morning near Hossur in Tamil Nadu, said a passenger travelling on the train. Cyriac Mathew told the media over telephone that the accident occurred around 7.45 am. “Around nine coaches bogies derailed. The worst affected was the coach D-8. I could see the bodies of two men and a woman in the coach,” said Mathew. “Police and the ambulance arrived an hour after the accident,” Mathew said. He said some passengers have suffered minor injuries and that rescue operations are underway. “The most affected coach is now being cut open,” said Mathew, who is a regular on the train. He said the train was not very crowded. [caption id=“attachment_2096651” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Screen grab from ANI’s Twitter feed.[/caption] According to PTI railway officials said about nine coaches have been derailed in the mishap that occurred between Anekal-Hosur on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border at around 7.40 am. Karnataka Government rushed several ambulances to the spot and launched rescue operations. The injured trapped in derailed bogies were being removed and rushed to hospitals in Bengaluru and nearby Hosur, sources said. Some news reports said that multiple coaches of the trail had derailed while NDTV reported that all coaches of the train derailed and the locomotive had caught fire. “Local villagers rushed in on their two-wheelers and helped,” Vinay, a passenger who was on the train told NDTV. He said that government officials have also arrived at the spot and are assisting with rescue efforts. There has been no official statement on the number of persons injured and there are reportedly six ambulances that have reached the site of the accident. With inputs from IANS