News from March 5th reveals the shocking cause behind a train collision in India last October: one of the drivers was engrossed in watching a football match on his phone.
Reportedly, on October 29, 2023, two passenger trains collided in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, India, resulting in 14 fatalities and injuries to over 50 people.
The incident occurred when one of the express trains, traveling from Andhra Pradesh to Odisha, had to make an emergency stop due to a technical failure, which led to the collision with another express train, culminating in a tragic accident.
On March 4th, local time, the Indian Railway Department released the investigation results of the accident. Surprisingly, the cause was found to be one of the train drivers watching a football match on his phone.
The Indian Minister for Railways, Communications, and Electronics & Information Technology, Vaishnaw, stated that both the main and assistant drivers of the train involved were watching a cricket match on their phones and failed to notice the signal to stop, leading to the accident.
From October 5th to November 19th, 2023, the 13th edition of the International Cricket Council Men's World Cup was held in India (cricket is immensely popular in India, often referred to as the "national sport"). The day of the train collision coincided with a match between the host team India and England.
According to the Press Trust of India, quoting Vaishnaw, "We are now installing a driver attention monitoring system to ensure the safe and smooth operation of trains."
The train collision incident in Andhra Pradesh, India on October 29th is depicted in the image available on Baidu Baike.
