Officials report that at least 288 people were slain and 850 were injured in a multiple train collision in the eastern Indian state of Odisha.
Saturday, after two passenger trains derailed in India, killing more than 280 people, rescuers waded through piles of detritus and wreckage to extricate bodies and free victims. During the night, hundreds of people were trapped inside more than a dozen derailed rail cars in one of the nation’s deadliest railway accidents in decades.
According to Indian Railways, the affected trains were the Coromandel Express and the Howrah Superfast Express.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw ordered a high-level investigation into the incident and proclaimed an ex gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh for deaths, Rs 2 lakh for severely injured victims, and Rs 50,000 for those with minor injuries. Due to the mishap, Odisha’s chief minister Naveen Patnaik has declared a day of mourning.
Amitabh Sharma, a spokeswoman for the railway ministry, stated that ten to twelve coaches of one train derailed, and debris from some of the mangled coaches fell onto a neighbouring track.
Sharma claimed that the debris came from coaches that had been severely damaged. According to him, the debris was struck by a second passenger train that was travelling in the opposite direction. This caused up to three coaches of the second train to also get derailed.
Officials reported that throughout the night, 1,200 rescuers worked alongside 115 ambulances, 50 buses, and 45 mobile health units at the accident site. Odisha proclaimed Saturday a day of mourning as the state’s chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, arrived in the district to meet with injured passengers.
The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, expressed his sadness and condolences to the bereaved families.
A male survivor stated, “Ten to fifteen individuals fell on me when the accident occurred and everything went crazy.” I was at the base of the stack.
“Both my hand and the back of my neck were injured. When I emerged from the train car, I saw that someone had lost a hand, a limb, and their face was disfigured,” the survivor told India’s ANI news agency.
