At least 15 people were killed and about 50 were injured when a freight train rammed into a passenger train in India's north-eastern West Bengal state on Monday.
Passengers, the freight train's driver and the guard on the passenger train are among the dead, the country's railway authorities said.
The accident happened at 9am when the Kanchanjunga Express was hit from the rear by a freight train, causing two of the passenger train's carriages to derail near New Jalpaiguri station.
It is one of the largest and busiest railway stations in India and serves trains travelling between eight remote north-eastern states connected to the rest of the country by a narrow strip of land between Nepal and Bangladesh, known as the "Chicken’s Neck".
The express train was travelling from Agartala in Tripura state to Sealdah station in Kolkata, in West Bengal.
“There was a massive jolt. Everybody started crying that there was an accident," one passenger said. "We got off and saw a train had rammed into our train."
Jaya Verma Sinha, chief executive of India's Railway Board, said an initial investigation suggested the accident appeared to caused by human error. “The freight train driver disregarded the signal and overshot and rammed into three bogies," she said. "One of the coaches was the guard room and two were parcel rooms.
“There are passenger casualties. The driver of the freight train and the guard in the last coach of the express train were also killed. It is prima facie a human error, but we will know after the inquiry.”
About 50 passengers have been taken to hospital but their injuries are not serious, Ms Sinha said.
The crash affected other services, with at least 10 trains stranded and several diverted to other routes.
The passenger train was expected to resume its journey with the undamaged carriages on Monday evening.
Ms Sinha said the rescue operation had been brought to an end and the tracks were to be repaired. Residents of nearby villages helped the rescue effort, she added.
“I was at the mosque when people said there was a train accident. We rushed to the site and saw the scene. Both the trains were on the same line, the last coaches were damaged,” villager Rajat Ali told local media.
India's Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said each of the families of those killed would receive compensation of one million rupees ($11,900). "An inquiry has been initiated," he said after meeting passengers receiving treatment in hospital.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced compensation of 200,000 rupees to each of the victims' families, with 50,000 rupees to be given to the injured. The compensation will be paid from the Prime Minister's Relief Fund.
Train accidents are common on India's vast and ageing railway network, which is undergoing a long-needed revamp. The government said it planned to spend about $130 billion on efforts to modernise the network.
At least 14 people were killed and more than 50 were injured in a collision in October in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
An investigation found the driver and his assistant were watching a cricket match when their train collided with another passenger train. Both men were killed.
One of the country's worst rail accidents occurred last June, when more than 300 were killed and hundreds were injured when two express trains and a freight train collided in the eastern state of Odisha.
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
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Mr Al Qassimi is 37 and lives in Dubai
He is a keen drummer and loves gardening
His favourite way to unwind is spending time with his two children and cooking
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More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
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Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
Panipat
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Produced Ashutosh Gowariker, Rohit Shelatkar, Reliance Entertainment
Cast Arjun Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Kriti Sanon, Mohnish Behl, Padmini Kolhapure, Zeenat Aman
Rating 3 /5 stars
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Schedule
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
