Nine people were killed and 40 injured on Sunday when two trains collided in Andhra Pradesh, said police, months after the horrific three-train collision in Odisha that killed over 280.

“As per the data, 9 casualties are there and 29 people have been injured,” Biswajit Sahu, CPRO, East Coast Railway had earlier told news agency ANI.

The district administration has updated the injury figures to 40.

A special passenger train going from Visakhapatnam to Palasa had stopped on tracks between Alamanda and Kantakapalle near Kothsavatsala because of no signal when the Vizag-Raigad passenger train rammed it, derailing three coaches. 

Pictures from the site showed the derailed coaches and people crowding around. 

Railways sources said the tragedy was a result of human error, adding that signalling was not noticed by loco pilot.

War room in Delhi railway ministry is monitoring the situation, the Railways source added.

The East Coast Railway has released helpline numbers. 

Helpline Number regarding Train Accident between Alamanda and Kantakapalle in Vizianagaram-Kottavalasa Rly secn of Waltair Divn of ECoR in Howrah-Chennai Main Line.

Bhubaneswar –
0674-2301625, 2301525, 2303069

Waltair – 0891-
2885914@RailMinIndia

— East Coast Railway (@EastCoastRail) October 29, 2023

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and reviewed the situation.

PM @narendramodi spoke to Railway Minister Shri @AshwiniVaishnaw and took stock of the situation in the wake of the unfortunate train derailment between Alamanda and Kantakapalle section.

Authorities are providing all possible assistance to those affected. The Prime Minister…

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 29, 2023

Andhra Chief Minister Jagan Reddy has condoled the loss of lives in the accident. 

“The CM expressed deep shock over the Kantakapalli train accident incident in Vizianagaram district. He ordered the officials to take quick relief measures and ensure that the injured get prompt medical services,” the Chief Minister’s office posted on social media. 

“The Chief Minister advised to send as many ambulances as possible from the nearby districts of Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli and make all kinds of arrangements to provide medical treatment in the nearby hospitals. The details regarding the incident should be reported to him from time to time,” it added. 

Union Railway Minister Aswini Vaishnaw telephoned the Chief Minister over the accident.

All injured shifted to hospitals.
Ex-gratia compensation disbursement started – ₹10 Lakh in case of death,
₹2.5 Lakh towards grievous and ₹50,000 for minor injuries.

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) October 29, 2023

The Chief Minister informed him that rescue teams have been sent to the accident site and Education Minister B Satyanarayana, District Collector and the SP are supervising the relief and rescue operations.

He further told the Union Minister that all arrangements were made in the nearby hospitals to treat the injured. 

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao, popularly known as KTR, took a dig at the Congress saying that there are around five to six Congress leaders vying for the Chief Minister’s post ahead of the November 30 assembly elections.

“On one side, there is KCR (K Chandrashekhar Rao) who fought for Telangana for 14 years and achieved it and on the other side there are five to six Congress leaders who want to be Chief Minister,” KTR said while addressing a booth committee meeting in Hyderabad’s LB Nagar on Sunday.

Taunting the probable Congress Chief Ministerial candidates, KTR said that while Bhatti Vikramarka has stitched new dhotis, Revanth Reddy stitched a new ‘Lalchi’ pyjama, Uttam Kumar Reddy has trimmed and coloured his beard.

“They are getting new thoughts daily. Jana Reddy who is not contesting in this election wants to become Chief Minister. Not only Jana Reddy but Bhatti Vikramarka also. He even stitched new Dhotis. Revanth Reddy stitched a new Lalchi pyjama. Uttam Kumar trimmed his beard and coloured it. Jagga Reddy also wants to become Chief Minister,” KTR said.

The Telangana Minister said that these leaders have even painted their houses.

“There are six to seven leaders ready in the Congress who want to be the Chief Minister. They even painted their houses…,” KTR said.

KTR however pointed out that this competition among the Congress Chief Minister probables is not a new phenomenon as it happened in the last polls as well.

“They are saying that they are winning, but it is not new to us. They did the same in 2018 by saying they will win and KCR will lose. It is the same build-up. But nothing happened,” he said.

KTR said that in the 2018 polls, KCR won 25 more seats and people made him the Chief Minister for the second time. He added that this will repeat this time as well.

“KCR got 25 seats more and people made him CM again, it’s certain this time too,” he said.

Assembly elections in Telangana will be held on November 30 and counting of votes will take place on December 3. Telangana is set to witness an intriguing triangular contest between the BRS, Congress, and BJP.

In the previous Assembly elections in 2018, the BRS won 88 of the 119 seats, hogging 47.4 per cent of the total vote share. The Congress finished a distant second with 19 seats and a vote share of 28.7 per cent.

Acapulco was struggling Sunday to recover from the extraordinarily powerful Hurricane Otis, which claimed 48 lives across southern Mexico and provoked widespread power, water and telephone outages.

The picturesque tourist haunt, which once lured Hollywood stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis Presley, had never experienced a Category 5 storm like Otis, which roared ashore Wednesday and made local landmarks built over decades look like they had been bombed out. 

The hurricane’s death count climbed Sunday as five more people were confirmed dead in Coyuca de Benitez, north of the city.

Some 36 people were still missing, authorities said at midday. 

The count of victims has been slow after the storm collapsed telecommunications systems, which have been gradually returning over the weekend.

But frustrated survivors, who for days were unable to communicate with loved ones to let them know they were safe, have accused authorities of an inadequate response.

The World Meteorological Organization has described the hurricane as “one of the most rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones on record,” exceeded in modern times only by another Pacific hurricane, Patricia, in 2015.

The speed with which Otis intensified took the government and weather forecasters by surprise, leaving little time to issue warnings and prepare residents for its arrival.

As aid finally began to arrive over the weekend, initial estimates put the storm’s damage at around $15 billion. 

Some 273,000 homes, 600 hotels and 120 hospitals were damaged, with a number of restaurants and businesses in ruins, the government said.

A security force of some 17,000 was deployed across the area after reports that supermarkets had been looted.

Additionally, the Mexican army and navy established an air bridge to distribute humanitarian aid.

Thousands of litres of water and food supplies have been distributed in the resort city, home to 780,000 people. 

The government had earlier said victims in need of specialized care were being flown to hospitals elsewhere in Mexico.

In 1997, Hurricane Paulina hit the Acapulco region as a Category 4 storm, killing more than 200 people.