Amritsar train accident: 61 dead as speeding train runs over crowd at Dussehra celebration
Hindustan TimesTragedy struck at a Dussehra celebration in Amritsar on Friday when a speeding train ran over a festive crowd that spilled on to the tracks while watching the customary burning of a giant Ravana effigy. Have asked officials to provide immediate assistance that is required.” Railways minister Piyush Goyal cancelled all his engagements in the US and said he was immediately returning to India. The event close to tracks near Amritsar was a “clear case of trespassing” and no permission was given by the railways, a senior official told PTI. Amid questions being raised in some quarters about why the train did not stop despite such a large crowd being there, the official said, “There was so much smoke that the driver was unable to see anything and he was also negotiating a curve.” As the state government faced criticism, Navjot Kaur Sidhu talked to the media at a hospital where the injured were taken.