In a tragic incident early Tuesday morning, the Mumbai-Howrah Mail derailed in the Seraikela-Kharsawan district of Jharkhand, resulting in the deaths of two individuals and injuring at least 20 others. The derailment, which involved 18 coaches, occurred near Barabamboo, approximately 80 km from Jamshedpur.

Prabhat Kumar, the District Development Commissioner of Seraikela, confirmed the fatalities. The injured have been transported to hospitals in Phatepani and Seraikela for treatment.

According to officials, the accident took place at around 3:45 am under the Chakradharpur Division of the South Eastern Railway (SER). A local administration official reported that the passenger train, approaching from the opposite direction, collided with a derailed goods train.

An SER spokesperson, Om Prakash Charan, provided details about the derailed coaches, noting that out of the 18 derailed coaches, 16 were passenger coaches, along with one power car and one pantry car.

Rescue operations commenced promptly after the accident. A special control room was established at Howrah railway station to coordinate the efforts. Most of the passengers, approximately 80%, have been transported to Chakradharpur station by bus, while a rescue train has arrived at the accident site to assist the remaining passengers.

A police team from West Bengal and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams from Patna are en route to the site to aid in the rescue efforts. Two special rescue teams from the West Bengal administration have also been dispatched to Chakradharpur.

In the aftermath of the derailment, three express trains have been cancelled. The cancelled trains are:

22861 Howrah-Katpadi Express

08015/18019 Kharagpur-Dhanbad Express

12021/12022 Howrah-Barbil-Howrah Express