02 June 202319:15
Cars loaded with passengers derailed onto opposite track after colliding with freight train in Orissa state
In India at least 50 people have died from it collision between two trains. The newspaper reports it Hindustan Times which speaks of 179 wounded, while second Times of India 300 would be injured. The accident took place in the Balasore station, in the eastern state ofOrissa. Carriages of a passenger train derailed onto the opposite track and collided with a freight train. At least 200 passengers are feared trapped under the carriages. More than 100 rescuers have been sent to the scene of the accident and are engaged in rescue operations.
According to an initial reconstruction, a dozen carriages of the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed near Baleswar ending up on the opposite track. “A train from Yeswanthpur to Howrah crashed into those carriages causing the derailment of its 3-4 carriages,” said Railways spokesman Amitabh Sharma. A second passenger train would also be involved in the disaster, but the dynamics of the events are not yet clear.
“We are not yet able to establish what happened, several teams are on site and everyone is engaged in rescue operations,” said a police official. At present, 75 ambulances have been dispatched to the site of the tragedy to help transport the injured to medical facilities in the region. Many doctors who have come from other districts to help the injured are also busy at the scene of the accident.
Local media showed images of an overturned train carriage on the side of the tracks with what appeared to be survivors on top of the overturned train carriages and local residents trying to help them off. “We expect the rescue operations to continue at least until tomorrow morning. For our part, we have alerted all the large government hospitals to assist the injured,” said a spokesman for the Orissa state government as the authorities have already announced compensation for the victims of the disaster.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “saddened by the train crash”. “At this time of grief, my thoughts are with the grieving families. May the injured recover soon. I spoke to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and took stock of the situation,” he tweeted.
Indian Railways transport tens of millions of people every day and until a few years ago accidents were more frequent as the infrastructures remained essentially those built in the British colonial era. However, the safety of the railways – thanks to massive new investments and upgrading of technology – has improved significantly in recent years. The latest major disaster dates back to November 2016 when 147 people died in a train derailment in the state of Uttar Pradesh.