India train crash: More than 280 dead after Odisha incident
- By Jaroslav Lukiv & George Wright
- BBC News
At least 288 folks are actually identified to have been killed and 900 injured in a a number of train collision in India’s japanese Odisha state, officers say.
More than 200 ambulances had been despatched to the scene in Balasore district, says Odisha’s chief secretary Pradeep Jena.
One passenger train is assumed to have derailed earlier than being struck by one other on the adjoining monitor late on Friday.
It is India’s worst train crash this century. Officials say the demise toll is anticipated to rise additional.
Indian Railways stated the 2 companies concerned had been the Coromandel Express and the Howrah Superfast Express.
Sudhanshu Sarangi, director common of Odisha Fire Services, stated that the demise toll stood at 288.
Mr Jena stated earlier that extra than 100 further medical doctors had been mobilised.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated he was distressed by the incident and his ideas had been with the bereaved households.
“Rescue ops are under way at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, Home Minister Amit Shah labelled the incident “deeply agonising”.
One male survivor stated that “10 to 15 folks fell on me when the accident occurred and every little thing went haywire. I used to be on the backside of the pile.
“I acquired harm in my hand and likewise the again of my neck. When I got here out of the train bogie, I noticed somebody had misplaced their hand, somebody had misplaced their leg, whereas somebody’s face was distorted,” the survivor advised India’s ANI information company.
A day of mourning has been introduced within the state.
It is believed that a number of carriages from the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed at about 19:00 native time (13:30 GMT), with a few of them ending up on the other monitor.
Another train – the Howrah Superfast Express travelling from Yesvantpur to Howrah – is then thought to have hit the overturned carriages.
Indian officers stated {that a} items train – which was stationary on the website – was additionally concerned within the incident. They offered no additional particulars.
Some surviving passengers had been seen dashing in to assist rescue these trapped within the wreckage.
Local bus firms had been additionally serving to to move wounded passengers.
India has one of many largest train networks on the planet and accidents are widespread, regardless of successive governments investing a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} to enhance the infrastructure, says BBC South Asia regional editor Anbarasan Ethirajan.
India’s worst train catastrophe was in 1981, when an overcrowded passenger train was blown off the tracks and right into a river throughout a cyclone in Bihar state, killing at the least 800 folks.
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