Authorities have given various statements regarding which train derailed first and became entangled with the other.
ODISHA:Indian authorities reported on Saturday that at least 288 people had killed in the country’s worst rail catastrophe in more than 20 years, which occurred when a passenger train veered off the tracks and collided with another one. A preliminary investigation into the accident blamed signal failure.
In the east of the country’s Odisha state, in the Balasore district, a train in the accident on Friday also struck an adjacent goods train, causing a tangled mass of broken rail cars and 803 injuries.
K. S. Anand, head public relations officer for the South Eastern Railway, announced that there had been 288 fatalities.
The rescue effort is ongoing, dead bodies are still trapped in the crumpled coaches, and the death toll is anticipated to grow, according to a Reuters witness.
According to an initial investigation, signal failure was to blame for the disaster, according to Anand. As a result, the Howrah Superfast Express was also derailed by its coaches falling onto the tracks on each side.
Rescue teams searched the wrecked carriages to take the survivors out and hasten them to the hospital, as seen in video footage of derailed railway coaches and damaged lines.
Police assisted family in identifying the dead, which were covered in white cloths and stored in linked bags, on the blood-stained floor of a classroom that had been converted into a makeshift mortuary.
As soon as he arrived, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with the rescuers and examined the debris. Hospitals are where he also ran into the survivors. Words fall short of expressing the depth of my sadness. In order to help those afflicted, we remain steadfast in our commitment, Modi remarked.
The shouts and cries of the hurt and the relatives of the dead were horrific, according to a witness who was part in the rescue efforts. He pronounced it to be horrifying and heartbreaking.
According to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the badly injured would receive 200,000 rupees, while the families of the deceased will receive 1 million rupees ($12,000), while lesser injuries will only receive 50,000 rupees. The compensation has also been announced by several state governments.
Vaishnaw visited the accident site and told reporters, “It’s a sad, tragic event.Our single-minded attention is on the rescue and relief efforts, and we’re trying to ensure that those who have been harmed get the finest care we can.
Dismembered bodies
An unnamed male victim told NDTV news, “I was asleep.” “The train derailing’s noise startled me up. I suddenly noticed 10–15 dead people. I was able to exit the train, and when I did, I came upon numerous corpses that had been cut to pieces.
As rescuers went on one of the derailed trains to search for survivors, footage from Friday showed passengers crying and waving for aid near to the wreckage.
Sanjeev Rout, an electrician, stated, “We saved at least 30 individuals. Some of them managed to survive, while three or four of them died. Rescue personnel attempted to force their way into a damaged red coach from a few metres away.
On Friday at around 7 p.m. (1330 GMT), the Coromandel Express from Kolkata to Chennai and the Howrah Superfast Express from Bengaluru to Howrah in West Bengal collided.
Approximately 13 million people are reportedly transported daily, according to Indian Railways. However, because to old infrastructure, the state-run monopoly has had a poor safety record.
The collision was “extremely tragic,” according to Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik.
Jairam Ramesh, the head of the opposition Congress party, stated that the incident proved how important it is for the rail network to put safety first at all times.
High-speed trains were introduced by the Modi administration as part of network modernization plans, but some claim the administration did not put enough emphasis on safety and updating outdated infrastructure.
According to experts, Modi’s efforts to overhaul the railways took a hit as a result of Friday’s train catastrophe.
In 1981, a train in the state of Bihar fell off a bridge and into a river, resulting in the deadliest railway catastrophe in India. Approximately 800 persons were killed.
