According to a local official, a “violent” collision between multiple trains in India on Friday evening has resulted in the death of over 200 people and hundreds of injuries.
The accident occurred in the city of Balasore in Odisha state when two passenger trains and a goods train collided, as confirmed by state chief secretary Pradeep Jena. The disaster management agency of the state reported at least 207 fatalities and 900 injuries, as stated by Jena on Twitter.
Images from the scene depicted rescue workers searching for survivors in a damaged rail carriage. The rescue operation involved over 115 ambulances and several fire service units, as per authorities.
The cause of the devastating crash is yet to be determined, according to Jena in an interview with CNN affiliate News18. He emphasized that the current priority is focused on ongoing rescue efforts.
Jena said, “We are only working on sending additional doctors, ambulances, buses, so all those things we are doing, so we have not thought of asking what happened, how it happened.”
Among the trains involved in the accident is the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, carrying passengers from West Bengal, as stated by Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal.
The Coromandel Express travels along India’s east coast, between the capital Kolkata of West Bengal and the South Indian city of Chennai.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences via a tweet on Friday. He wrote, “Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Rescue operations are underway at the site of the mishap, and all possible assistance is being given to those affected.”
India’s extensive rail network often suffers from aging infrastructure and inadequate maintenance, factors that frequently contribute to accidents.
The death toll from Friday’s crash has already surpassed that of a notorious 2016 accident, which was one of the deadliest in recent years, claiming the lives of over 140 people in a derailment in northern Uttar Pradesh state.
In 2021, nearly 18,000 railway accidents resulted in the deaths of 16,431 individuals across the country. A 2021 report by the National Crime Records highlighted that the majority (67.7%) of railway accidents were reported as “Fall from trains/collision with people on track.”
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced his plans to visit the accident site on Saturday morning to assess the situation.
The families of those who lost their lives in the accident will receive compensation of $12,136, as declared by India’s Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics, and Information Technology. Lesser amounts will be provided to those injured in the crash.
