Title - Lack of info irks kin of accident victims

Even as the New Delhi-Chennai Central Tamil Nadu Express train met with major fire accident at Nellore, the officials concerned failed to give proper information to the kin of the accident victims.

The kin of the deceased and the injured passengers, who boarded the train here, were seen searching for the Help Desk/Line. The officials have not arranged any boards at the Help Desk or at the control room set up at the railway station and at the DRM’s office.

The railway authorities, in a press release, gave two phone numbers 0866-2576924/2575038 for passing on information to the victims’ family members. But, nobody responded to the phones on Tuesday.

Asked about the details of the missing persons, dead and the list of injured passengers in the accident and the hospitals where they were undergoing treatment, the Help Line officials only said that they have no such information.

The officials confirmed that five of the deceased were identified, but the whereabouts of the missing persons were not known. The kin of the victims were seen running between Nellore and Vijayawada anxiously for their loved ones on the second day on Tuesday.

‘Utter negligence’

“It is the utter negligence of railway officials in disseminating information of the dead/missing/injured passengers.

There is no coordination among the SCR officers of Nellore, Vijayawada, and Hyderabad and are making the public to suffer,” said a victim’s kin Srinivasa Rao who was waiting at Vijayawada railway station for information.

The railway authorities should immediately release the list of the dead passengers, injured and those who were dead, but not identified at New Delhi, Hyderabad, Warangal, Vijayawada, Nellore, and Chennai to relieve the victim’s families from tension, said Ramesh, who came to enquire about his kin.