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The extent of the Indian train crash doom.

Published

12 months ago

June 4, 2023

Stella Charles Akupue

The extent of the Indian train crash doom.

At least 260 people have been killed, and 650 are injured, with officials saying the death toll is expected to rise. One passenger train derailed onto the adjacent track and was struck by an incoming train on Friday, hitting a nearby stationary freight train.

Many were injured in a crash involving three trains in India’s eastern Odisha state.

One passenger train derailed onto the adjacent track and was struck by an incoming train on Friday, hitting a nearby stationary freight train. After hundreds of emergency workers searched the wreckage, a massive recovery operation is underway.

The cause of India’s worst train crash in over 20 years is unclear.

Officials say several carriages from the Coromandel Express, travelling between Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Chennai (formerly Madras), derailed at about 19:00 (13:30 GMT) in Balasore district after hitting a stationary goods train. Several of its coaches ended up on the opposite track.

Another train travelling in the opposite direction – the Howrah Superfast Express from Yesvantpur to Howrah – hit the overturned carriages.

The extent of the Indian train crash doom.

“The force with which the trains collided has resulted in several coaches being crushed and mangled,” Atul Karwal, chief of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), told ANI news agency.

More than 200 ambulances and hundreds of doctors, nurses and rescue personnel were sent to the scene, the state’s chief secretary Pradeep Jena said.

The extent of the Indian train crash doom.

Sudhanshu Sarangi, director general of Odisha Fire Services, said 288 had died.

All trapped and injured passengers have been rescued. It is unclear how severe the injuries of those taken to hospitals were. Work to restore the crash site has begun, India’s South Eastern Railway company said on Saturday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the accident site on Saturday afternoon, joining Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at the scene.

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An investigation into the cause of the crash has been launched, although Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has blamed “technical reasons”.

Survivors and eyewitnesses have described chaotic scenes and the heroic efforts of people from nearby villages to save trapped passengers.

India’s deadly train crashes.

June 1981: Nearly 800 people died when seven of the nine coaches of an overcrowded train fell into a river during a cyclone
August 1995: At least 350 people are killed when two trains collide 200km (125 miles) from Delhi
August 1999: Two trains collide near Kolkata, killing at least 285 people
October 2005: 77 people are killed when a train derails in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh
November 2016: Nearly 150 people were killed, and an equal number were injured when 14 carriages of the Indore-Patna Express train derailed near the city of Kanpur

The extent of the Indian train crash doom.

India has one of the largest train networks in the world, with millions of passengers using it daily, but a lot of the railway infrastructure needs improving.

Trains can get very packed at this time of year, with a growing number of people travelling during school holidays.

Both passenger trains involved in the crash were full and had many more people on the waiting list, according to passenger lists on the Indian rail ministry website reviewed by the BBC.

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