train accident Several trains derail: about 300 dead and more than 850 injured in India
India, Balasore: Rescue workers at the scene of the accident after a serious train accident in the Indian state of Odisha
© DPA
Train accidents are common in India. But a disaster of this magnitude is also an absolute exception: several trains derail at Balasore, and the number of victims rises to three figures. Eyewitnesses report harrowing scenes.
Around 300 people have died and more than 850 others have been injured in India’s worst train crash in more than two decades. After the collision of two passenger trains and a freight train parked on the railway tracks in the state of Odisha, 288 people have already been counted, the rescuers said on Saturday. At the scene of the accident, near Balasore, residents also tried to pull out people trapped under the overturned wagons.
The rescue operation after Friday’s train crash lasted all night. So far, 288 fatalities have already been reported, said Odisha State Fire Chief Sudhanshu Sarangi, deployed to the scene of the accident. However, the search is not yet complete and there are many serious injuries.
Three trains involved in the accident
Odisha Prime Minister Pradeep Jena said around 850 injured people had been taken to hospital. “Our top priority now is to rescue and provide medical aid to the injured,” he said.
AFP journalists saw several overturned wagons on the spot. Beside the rails lay many corpses covered with white sheets.
Indian Railways chief Amitabh Sharma said of the unfolding of the accident that there was ‘active involvement’ of two passenger trains and a freight train parked alongside was also implied.
A survivor told a local TV station that he was asleep when the accident happened. After the collision, some passengers lay on top of him, but he was eventually able to get out of the car.
Indian Prime Minister ‘shaken’
A spokesman for the Odisha regional government said 75 ambulances and numerous buses had been dispatched to the scene of the accident due to the many injuries. All hospitals around the crash site up to the regional capital Bhubaneswar, some 200 kilometers away, have been put on alert.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter that he was “shocked” by the train crash. His thoughts are with the bereaved. Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw rushed to the scene of the accident to get a first-hand view of the situation.
Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and the US State Department also expressed their condolences. “Our thoughts are with the people of India at this time,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.
Train crashes again and again
In the past, there have always been serious rail accidents in India. In 1981, between 800 and 1,000 people died when a train derailed over a bridge and plunged into a river in Bihar. However, safety on the rails has improved considerably in recent years thanks to massive investments and new technologies.
