14 dead after train accident in India: driver was “distracted by a cricket match”

Une catastrophe qui aurait peut-être pu être évitée. MAXPPP – ASHUTOSH KUMAR PANDEY

The drivers of a train in India which crashed into another train in October in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, killing 14, were distracted and did not They didn't see a signal because they were watching a cricket match on a phone, the rail transport minister said on Monday.

"The recent case in Andhra Pradesh occurred because the locomotive driver and his mate were distracted by a cricket match", said Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

"We are installing systems that can detect such distractions and ensure that train drivers and their seconds are fully focused on operating the train' quot;, he added.

The collision occurred as India hosted England in the Cricket World Cup, a match followed at television by hundreds of millions of Indians.

Separately, authorities fired the station master and three other employees after a freight train coasted for 70 kilometers without a driver for two hours in February, reported the Hindustan Times.

Accidents that multiply

India, which has one of the largest railway networks in the world, has experienced several disasters, including one in 1981, when a train derailed in crossing a bridge in the state of Bihar (north-east), killing around 800 people.

In June 2023, nearly 300 people died in a collision between three trains in the state of Odisha (east). In recent years, India has invested heavily in modernizing the network with modern stations and electronic signaling systems.