Vaibhavwadi train crash

In the railway accident Vaibhavwadi on June 22, 2003 derailed a train between the stations Rajapur and Vaibhavwadi in the Indian state of Maharashtra. In this case, 51 people died.

Starting position

A special train of Konkan Railway Corporation with holiday travelers, was traveling on a railway Goa - Mumbai Central Railway from Karwar to Mumbai. Due to heavy monsoon rain and darkness, visibility was extremely poor. In Vaibhavwadi the train went through a tunnel that led to rough terrain in an all-terrain incision. Here, a landslide had occurred after the heavy rainfall: Rocks and earth were thrown on the railway line, which had been hitherto unnoticed.

Circumstances of the accident

Counter 22:30 drove the locomotive of the train at considerable speed on the rocks and was thrown from the track, as well as the first three cars of the train. This was so violent that the vehicles were destroyed. The last car of the train got wedged in the tunnel.

Follow

51 people died in the accident, more than 100 were injured, 60 of them seriously.

The area in which the accident happened, was so remote that there were no residents who noticed the accident. It took hours before first aid stood outside available. The accident site was difficult to reach from the 150 soldiers of the army and seconded by emergency vehicles because of poor road conditions. Even rescue trains could not be used initially because of the danger of further landslides. So it took until the wee hours before all the victims were recovered from the crashed train. These circumstances contributed significantly to the high number of deaths. On the wrecked train slid further parts of the embankment after.