MOTIHARI: At least four passengers were killed and 25 injured, three of them seriously, when the 216 Dn Narkatiaganj-Raxaul passenger train rammed into a sand-laden truck at an unmanned railway crossing at Chikani near Raxaul on Thursday.
East Central Railway’s chief public relations officer Dilip Kumar said the accident occurred around 11 am. After the collision, the truck’s front portion was entangled with the locomotive as a result of which the engine and a coach jumped off the track.
A team of Raxaul police led by DSP Rajiv Ranjan and another team of Sashastra Seema Bal jawans later reached the spot for rescue and relief operations.
DSP Ranjan said all the four persons killed in the accident were travelling on the train’s engine. The injured were shifted to a local hospital which referred three of them to the Motihari sadar hospital.
Two of the deceased were later identified as Sahabjan and Rasul Mian while the two others were yet to be identified.
According to police sources, the truck driver jumped from the vehicle at the nick of time and ran away. The train driver received minor injuries.
Movement of trains on the Narkatiaganj- Raxaul section was badly hit following the mishap.
Till reports last came in, railways’ engineers were busy repairing the tracks.