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. 

Acapulco was struggling Saturday to recover from an extraordinarily powerful hurricane which claimed 39 lives and provoked widespread power, water and telephone outages.

As aid finally began to arrive after Hurricane Otis’ devastating landfall Wednesday, the government upped the latest death toll from the previous report of 27. 

The current toll includes 29 men and 10 women, Secretary of Security Rosa Icela Rodriguez said in a video on social media. The government has not identified any of the dead.

Rodriguez said at least 10 people remain missing, up from four previously reported.

A security force of some 10,000 has been deployed across the area after reports that supermarkets had been looted, the authorities said. 

Additionally, the Mexican army and navy have established an air bridge “to accelerate the distribution of humanitarian aid,” a government statement said. 

Thousands of litres of water and food supplies have been distributed in the famed resort city, home to 790,000 people. 

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

Despite the government efforts, many survivors around the area were still struggling to make contact with family and friends elsewhere in Mexico. Otis did enormous damage to phone lines and telecommunications towers.

Andrea Fernandez, who is eight months pregnant, said she was distraught — unable to let her husband in another state know that she is fine.

“There is no (cellular) service. I haven’t been able to communicate for three days,” she said, jostling on a bridge with about 20 others keen to make a call or text to loved ones.

“I’m desperate,” she said through tears.

This picturesque tourist haunt, which once lured Hollywood stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis Presley, had never experienced a Category 5 hurricane like Otis which, in a single day, made local landmarks built over decades look like they had been bombed out. 

Cell phones intermittently pick up signals in some parts of the port, but the situation is hit or miss.

One local woman could be overheard telling her loved ones: “There is no way to get out of here! I’ll talk to you again when I can. Everything here is gone. It’s horrible.”

Some disgruntled survivors have told local media they were angry to hear tourists were taken to safe places to ride out the storm — in sharp contrast to the population as a whole. 

Francisco Perez, 50, is desperate to get word to his mother. He has accused the authorities of a grossly inadequate response.

“(They put) some portable (phone) antennas at a couple of places, but… what are we supposed to do?” he asked angrily, as people’s focus began turning to the lack of reliable water and food.

At one point, some tourists keen to contact kin approached journalists on the port’s main avenue, Costera Miguel Aleman, asking them to pass on details of a sick person who needed to be evacuated from a damaged building.

Otis strengthened with dramatic speed, growing in just hours from a tropical storm to the most powerful category of the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale before hitting land early Wednesday.

The World Meteorological Organization 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.
 

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.