Investigators believe human error was the cause of the train catastrophe in the southeast state of Andhra Pradesh, India, which resulted in 13 deaths and 39 injuries, an official said on Monday.
Due to a break in an overhead cable, the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train stopped on Sunday. As a result, two of the train’s carriages derailed when the Visakhapatnam-Palasa Express service crashed into it from behind.
Senior government official Nagalakshmi S. in the district where the tragedy occurred told Reuters that the number of dead had increased to 13 with 39 injured, and that over 90 passengers were in the two coaches that were struck by the second train.
According to the railway ministry, a preliminary inquiry revealed that the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada train’s “overshooting of signal” was caused by “human error”.
No passengers were still at the location early on Monday, according to a fire services officer from Andhra Pradesh.
The incident happened months after the greatest train disaster to strike India’s state-run railway system in twenty years, which claimed 292 lives.
With new trains and contemporary stations planned, Indian Railways, the fourth-largest train network in the world, is undergoing a $30 billion makeover.
