PATNA: At least four passengers have been killed and nearly a hundred were injured after six coaches of the Assam-bound North East Superfast Express derailed in Buxar district of Bihar late on Wednesday night. Those with serious injuries were rushed to AIIMS, Patna for treatment.

The deceased persons have been identified as Usha Bhandari (33), her daughter Aakriti Bhandari (8), Abu Zaid (68) and Narendra (70). Usha Bhandari and Aakriti Bhandari are residents of Assam’s Tinsukia whereas Abu Zaid is the resident of Kishanganj district of Bihar. Narendra is not yet known.

The incident occurred at 9.53 p.m. near the Raghunathpur railway station of the 23-coach train (No. 12506) which left the Anand Vihar terminal in Delhi at 7.40 a.m. on October 11 and was en route to Tinsukia in Assam in which at least two AC III Tier coaches had toppled over while four other coaches jumped the tracks.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw expressed condolences for the loss of lives and said in a post on X, "Will find the root cause of derailment." The minister said evacuation and rescue operations were completed and all coaches have been checked.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 Lakh each to the families of the people who died in the fatal incident. 

Several trains had to be cancelled and rerouted due to the accident. According to a statement issued by the East Central Railway zone, the trains that have been cancelled include Patna-Puri Special (03230), Sasaram-Ara Special (03620), Bhabhua Road Express Special (03617), Patna - DDU Memu Pass. Special (03203), Patna-Buxar Memu Pass Special (03375). Apart from this, two trains have also been partially cancelled- Patna-DDU Express (13209) and DDU-Patna Express (13210).

According to a preliminary probe report, a fault in railway tracks was the possible cause of derailment of all the coaches of the train. A report that has been prepared by railway officials mentioned, "It seems that derailment occurred due to fault in tracks."