Three more bodies were recovered from the coaches of a derailed train that plunged into flood waters in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, raising the death toll to 113, an official said on Monday.
Two bodies were recovered on Monday and one on Sunday, South Central Railway spokesperson P Krishnaiah said.
”The death toll stands at 113 now,” Krishnaiah said.
The accident took place on Saturday 70km from the Andhra Pradesh state capital, Hyderabad, when the train hit breaches in the track caused by water overflowing from nearby reservoirs swelled by heavy rains.
The train served the route between the coastal town of Repalli and the inland city of Secunderabad when it derailed between the stations of Ramanapet and Vellugonda.
About 100 bodies were recovered on Saturday, while 92 injured passengers were brought to hospitals in Hyderabad.
Heavy rains have battered southern India for more than a week, causing at least 100 other deaths in house collapses and drownings in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Army helicopters hauled bodies away with a rope and harness in the first hours after the accident, but later the operation was called off as it was proving too risky.
Rescue teams, with the help of local villagers, then used ropes to help them wade through the water to reach the train carriages and drag bodies on to higher land.
Military and other rescue personnel used acetylene torches and hacksaws to dismantle the mangled coaches and reach inside the submerged carriages.
”Over 350 railway personnel are engaged in restoration work, which is expected to be completed in 12 days,” a railway spokesperson said.
State-run Indian Railways transports more than 13-million passengers daily on networks that sprawl 108 700km across the nation with a population of more than one billion.
About 300 accidents are recorded every year, some of which result in hundreds of deaths. — Sapa-AFP