core sector communique

 

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU (DEFENCE WING)

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

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AID TO CIV AUTHORITY .RAILWAY ACCIDENT BETWEEN  2964 MARWAR EXPRESS  AND 2779 GOA EXPRESS AT BANAJANA, MATHURA
 

 

On 21 Oct 09 at 6 : 45 AM, Army authorities of Mathura were requisitioned by the District Magistrate,  Mathura to assist civil authorities in providing aid, assisting and supporting relief operations for a train accident that had occurred due to a collision between Marwar Express and Goa Express at about 5:00 AM at Banajana, located 8 Km from Mathura.

         Accordingly, keeping the criticality of time in mind the entire Garrison was mobilized, expert teams co-opted with the rescue effort which included more than 150 pers from the Army Corps of Engineers , The Electrical And Mechanical Engineers,  The Army Medical Corps  as well as the Military Police.

Specialist equipments like electric power saws, steel cutters, portable welding sets as well as Heavy Lift Recovery Vehicles were employed.  The teams were geared up to extricate trapped passengers within the badly  mangled boggies, evacuate the injured and dead after providing immediate first aid as well as to assist the railway authorities in clearing the main trunk route to resume railway traffic in the shortest possible timeframe.

            To this end the teams commenced relief operations at 7:00 AM after initial  reconnainance  was carried out by a core group of experts. By 9:00 AM, more than 20 civilian causalities had been extricated. A team of Army medical specialists equipped  with emergency resuscitation kits provided first aid and evacuated critical cases to Military Hospital , Mathura as well as Civil Hospitals . The Military Police assisted the civil authorities in ensuring that the staging forward of the evacuees for medical treatment as well as the induction of equipment to the accident site were not hindered by the large number of local spectators.

             On completion of the initial relief operations at 9:30 AM, the Army Engineers assisted the railway authorities by detaching the mangled coach which was subsequently cleared of the main line using heavy specialist railway equipment.  Prompt  response by Army was highly appreciated by the civ adm, passengers and their relatives.