Officials said on Saturday that at least 288 people had perished in India’s deadliest rail catastrophe in more than 20 years, which occurred when a passenger train veered off the tracks and collided with another one. The accident was first attributed to a signal malfunction.
In the region of Balasore in the eastern state of Odisha, one train involved in the accident on Friday also struck an adjacent freight train, resulting in a tangled mess of broken rail cars and 803 injuries.
S. Anand, head public relations officer of the South Eastern Railway, reported that 288 people have died.
According to a Reuters witness, dead people are still trapped in the crumpled coaches and the rescue effort is ongoing even though the death toll is anticipated to grow.
According to a preliminary report, signal failure caused the accident, according to Anand.
The Coromandel Express was intended to travel on the main line, but when a signal was issued for the loop route, it struck a goods train that was already stopped there. The Howrah Superfast Express was also derailed as a result of its coaches falling onto the tracks on either side, according to him.
Anubha Das, a survivor passenger, claimed he would never forget the event. “Families crushed away, limbless bodies, and a bloodbath on the tracks,” he alleged.
Rescue teams were seen combing the wrecked carriages in video footage to get the survivors out and rush them to the hospital. The video also revealed derailed train cars and damaged lines.
Police assisted family in identifying the dead bodies that were covered in white cloths and placed inside chained bags and laying on the bloody floor of a classroom that had been converted into a makeshift morgue.
Arriving on the scene, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with the rescue personnel and examined the debris. In hospitals, he also ran into the surviving.
“(I) evaluated the situation at the tragedy’s scene in Odisha. Words can’t express the depth of my sadness. We are devoted to helping those who are impacted in any way we can, Modi added.
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The shouts and cries of the injured and the loved ones of the deceased were terrible, according to a witness who was part in the rescue efforts. He described it as “horrific and heartbreaking.”
According to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the families of the deceased would receive 1 million rupees ($12,000), while the badly injured will receive 200,000 rupees and those with slight injuries will receive 50,000 rupees. Additionally, several state administrations have disclosed payments.
Vaishnaw examined the accident scene and told reporters, “It’s a terrible, tragic catastrophe. “The rescue and relief effort is our sole focus, and we’re working to make sure the injured receive the best care possible.”
UNREMEMBERED BODY
Unidentified man survivor told NDTV news, “I was asleep.” “The sound of the train derailing awakened me up. Suddenly, I counted 10 to 15 bodies. I was able to exit the coach, and as I did, I came upon other bodies that had been severed.
Video from Friday showed passengers waving for help and crying close to the debris as rescuers climbed onto one of the crumpled carriages to look for survivors.
Electrician Sanjeev Rout stated, “We saved at least 30 individuals. Some of them managed to survive, but three or four of them died. Rescuers attempted to force their way into a damaged red coach from a few meters away.
The Howrah Superfast Express from Bengaluru to Howrah in West Bengal collided with the Coromandel Express traveling from Kolkata to Chennai at around 7 p.m. (1330 GMT) on Friday.
According to Indian Railways, more than 13 million people are transported daily. Due to outdated infrastructure, the state-run monopoly has a mixed safety record.
Naveen Patnaik, the chief minister of Odisha, called the accident “extremely tragic.”
Jairam Ramesh, the leader of the opposition Congress party, said the incident served as further proof that the train network’s top priority should always be safety.
High-speed trains were introduced by the Modi administration as part of attempts to modernize the network, although some claim that the administration did not pay enough attention to safety or updating aging infrastructure.
The train tragedy on Friday, according to experts, dealt a blow to Modi’s promises to overhaul the railway system.
The deadliest railway catastrophe in India occurred in 1981 when a train in the state of Bihar fell off a bridge and into a river, killing an estimated 800 persons.
French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau all offered their condolences for the mishap.
