[kellyhound]

India, Eighteen passengers were injured, one critically, after a local MMTS suburban train crashed into a Secunderabad-bound Hundry Express coming from Kurnool just outside the Kacheguda station on Monday morning.

Twelve of the injured were discharged from the Osmania General Hospital (OGH) after first aid.

MMTS train loco-pilot L. Chandrasekhar, 36, who was trapped in the mangled lead coach, was pulled out alive after an eight-hour rescue operation and rushed to the hospital.

Rescue teams of the National Disaster Relief Force and South Central Railway , armed with gas cutters, hammers and crowbars, worked for hours to extricate the loco-pilot from the driver’s cabin after the accident occurred around 10.30 a.m. Continuous oxygen and saline feed was given to him.

Additional General Manager B.B. Singh blamed the accident on a “manual error” as the MMTS loco-pilot started even before receiving an all-clear signal on the mainline, even as the Hundry Express was pulling into the station.

“We suspect the loco pilot of MMTS overshot the signal and left the platform and even after noticing the oncoming train, he could not manage to apply the brakes,” said a SCR official.

The MMTS train from Lingampally to Falaknuma was moving from Platform No.2 to the mainline onward to Falakuma when it crashed mowed into the diesel engine of the incoming train bound towards Platform No.4 at the cross-section.

The impact was such that five compartments of the MMTS train and three of the Express train got derailed, with the diesel engine wheels hanging in the air.

The condition of the loco pilot of the MMTS train which collided head-on with a passenger train on Monday outside the Kacheguda railway station is still critical.

Chandra Shekar, the loco pilo, sustained poly trauma injuries including fractured ribs, kidney injuries and vascular injuries that have reduced blood supply to his legs.

Doctors at Care Hospital said that Chandra Shekar was in a state of hemorrhagic shock.
"He is on continual renal dialysis now due to acute injuries. There is blood in the urine and we are suspecting internal bleeding.

Also, his lower limbs have neuro-vascular bundle injuries. Vascular surgeons and other specialty doctors are making best efforts to keep his vitals stable. Right now, he cannot be operated on.

He is in a state of hemorrhagic shock and his condition is critical. He will be on observation for 24 hours. Right now, its too early to say anything about his condition," said Dr Sushma Rani, the medical superintendent of the hospital.