Officials claim at least 233 people lost their lives and 900 were injured in a multiple train collision in India’s eastern Odisha state. According to Odisha’s chief secretary Pradeep Jena, more than 200 ambulances were sent to the scene in Balasore district.
Late Friday, a passenger train was believed to have crashed before being hit by another on the adjoining track.
It is the deadliest train accident in India this century. The death toll is anticipated to grow further, according to officials. The two trains involved, according to Indian Railways, were the Coromandel Express and the Howrah Superfast Express. So far, 233 bodies have been recovered, according to Mr Jena. He had previously stated that more than 100 extra doctors had been deployed.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences at the incident and offered solidarity to the bereaved families. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was distressed by the incident and his thoughts were with the bereaved families. “Rescue ops are under way at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected,” he tweeted. Meanwhile, Home Minister Amit Shah labelled the incident “deeply agonising”. According to one male survivor, “10 to 15 people fell on me when the accident happened, and everything went haywire.” “I got hurt in my hand and also the back of my neck because I was at the bottom of the pile.” “When I got out of the train bogie, I saw that someone had lost a hand, someone had lost a leg, and someone’s face was distorted,” “When I got out of the train bogie, I saw that someone had lost a hand, someone had lost a leg, and someone’s face was distorted,” the survivor told India’s ANI news.
The state has declared a day of mourning. It is believed that several carriages from the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed at about 19:00 local time (13:30 GMT), with some of them ending up on the opposite track. Another train, the Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast Express, is then thought to have collided with the overturned coaches.
According to Indian officials, a goods train that was stopped at the scene had been involved in the tragedy. They did not disclose any other information. Surviving passengers were spotted rushing in to assist in the rescue of other people trapped in the wreckage.
According to BBC South Asia regional editor Anbarasan Ethirajan, despite successive governments investing hundreds of millions of dollars in improving infrastructure, India has one of the world’s largest train networks and accidents are common.The biggest train accident in India occurred in 1981, when an overcrowded passenger train was blown off the rails and into a river in Bihar state during a cyclone, killing at least 800 people.