Indian rail official arrested after crash

NEW DELHI, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- One of two fugitive railway officials was arrested in India early Thursday, a day after two passenger trains collided head-on, the BBC reported.

Ram Lal was one of two station masters that allowed the trains to end up on the same track and collide Tuesday, killing 36 people. Both he and station master VK Malviya disappeared after the crash, and police were searching the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for Malviya. Each man faces culpable homicide charges.

Meanwhile, opposition members of parliament are demanding the resignation of Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, angry at his failure to attend parliament Wednesday to face questioning over the crash.

Yadav visited the Punjab disaster site Tuesday but stopped off on his way back to Delhi to attend a rally in his home state of Bihar where key elections are scheduled next year.

"When there was an accident during our government, the railway minister offered to resign," former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told the lower house of parliament.