In one of the worst railway disasters in India, at least 233 people killed and more than 900 injured in Odisha train crash
Three trains collided one after another in a horrific sequence in Odisha’s Balasore district, setting off a massive rescue and evacuation process, officials said on Saturday.
The train crash happened near the Bahanaga Baazar station in Balasore district, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar. This appened around 7 pm on Friday, prompting the Railway Ministry to order a probe.
The inquiry into the train accident will be led by A M Chowdhary, Commissioner Railway Safety. Southeast Circle, the Indian Railways said in a statement. The Commissioner Railway Safety comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Several coaches of the 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, on the way to Howrah, derailed and fell on adjacent tracks, an official said.
A goods train also involved in the accident as some of the coaches of the Coromandel Express. The train heading to Chennai, hit its wagons after getting derailed, he added.
Railway tracks hasalmost destroyed at the spot as mangled coaches lay strewn all over. With some having mounted on another.
While a few coaches turned turtle due to the impact.
RECUE UNDERGOING
Pijush Poddar, a resident of Berhampore in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, was travelling to Tamil Nadu in the Coromandel Express to join work there when the accident happened.
“We jolted and suddenly saw the train bogie turn on one side. Many of us thrown out of the compartment by the momentum of the derailment. When we managed to crawl out, we found bodies lying all around,” he said.
Officials in Bhubaneswar said 115 ambulances, 50 buses and 45 mobile health units were working at the accident site, besides 1,200 personnel. The bodies taken to the hospitals in all kinds of vehicles, including tractors.