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Train Crash Kills 37 Pilgrims In India, Sparks Riot

By Dan Evon
Published on: 04:44 PST, Aug 19, 2013

A group of Hindu pilgrims were killed this morning when they were hit by a train near a crowded station in India. The crash resulted in 37 deaths and an angry mob that set fire to the train.

According to Yahoo News, the train crash occurred at the station in Dhamara Ghat in Eastern India. THe pilgrims were crossing the tracks when the Rajya Rani Express Train barreled into the station.

After the crash, an angry mob set fire to some of the train cars and nearly beat the conductor death.

According to railway official Arunendra Kumar, the train was not supposed to stop at Dhamara Ghat but the pilgrims must not have known that. The group was waiting on the tracks for the train and expected it to stop well before it reached them.

Unfortunately, they were wrong.

Kumar Ashutosh, a passenger on the train, said that the train did not slow down before it reached the station and once the conductor realized that people were on the track it was too late to stop.

Ashutosh said: “The driver did not slow down when the train approached the station. He maintained the high speed at which the train was moving, so it was difficult for him to stop when he realized that there were people on the track.”

The train crashed into the group, killing 37 people, and didn’t stop until a few hundred yards passed the station. People who survived the crash rushed the train and dragged the conductor out and beat him. The driver is now in critical condition at the hospital.

Ashutosh said: “Soon, groups of people began running toward the engine. They asked us to get down from the train. Some of them pulled out the driver and his assistant and began beating them.”

[Image Via Wikipedia]

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