A three-way train crash has left at least 280 people dead and 1,000 injured in the Indian city of Balasore.
A state railway official told CNN that the Friday collision may be the result of traffic signaling failure, however, the exact cause remains unclear.
Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Spoke to Railway Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw and took stock of the situation. Rescue ops are underway at the site of the mishap and all…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 2, 2023
Took stock of the situation at the site of the tragedy in Odisha. Words can’t capture my deep sorrow. We stand committed to providing all possible assistance to those affected. I laud all those working round the clock, on the ground and helping out in relief work.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 3, 2023
“Distressed by the train accident in Odisha,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter Friday.
“In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Spoke to Railway Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw and took stock of the situation. Rescue ops are underway at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected.”
Modi traveled to the site of the collision the day after and “took stock of the situation at the site of the tragedy in Odisha,” he added.
“Words can’t capture my deep sorrow,” Modi wrote. “We stand committed to providing all possible assistance to those affected. I laud all those working round the clock, on the ground, and helping out in relief work.”
The tragedy marks India’s worst rail crash in more than two decades, Reuters reported,
The collision occurred around 7 p.m. local time (1330 GMT), as the Howrah Superfast Express was traveling from Bengaluru to Howrah in West Bengal, and the Coromandel Express was traveling from Kolkata to Chennai.
A senior state railway official said that the goods train was stopped on a track as the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express entered the track, colliding with it. The Howrah Express then derailed after slamming into coaches that were pushed onto the opposite track.
A witness told Reuters that there are bodies still inside the trains and the death toll is expected to rise.
“The Coromandel Express was supposed to travel on the main line, but a signal was given for the loop line instead, and the train rammed into a goods train already parked over there. Its coaches then fell onto the tracks on either side, also derailing the Howrah Superfast Express,” K. S. Anand reportedly said.
Survivor Rohit Raj, 19, said that they were sleeping when the crash took place. “I was sleeping when all of a sudden, I heard a loud crash,” they told CNN. “There was smoke everywhere, we couldn’t see. Everyone was screaming, everyone was in shock.”
“People were trying to run and escape from the train. The coach in front of me was badly mangled. People were badly trapped. I saw people piled on top of each other. My coach derailed, but thankfully I managed to escape.”
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has visited the site and announced that families of those who died will receive 1 million rupees ($12,000), while those seriously injured will get 200,000 and those with minor injuries 50,000.
#Orissa India 🇮🇳. Deadly India train crash kills over 280 people, and injures close to 900 in one of nation's worst rail disasters. We from UAE and Pakistan stand with India in this saddest time.
🥹💔#TrainTragedy #Orissa pic.twitter.com/6CzMno5839
— Usman (@JKDubai1) June 4, 2023
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