People inspect the site of passenger trains that derailed in India's Balasore district.
Photo / Press Trust of India via AP
People inspect the site of passenger trains that derailed in India's Balasore district.
Photo / Press Trust of India via AP
At least 288 people have been killed and more than 900 injured in a crash involving three trains in eastern India’s Odisha state, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years.
Emergency crews were on Friday night scrambling to rescue a further 200 passengers thought to be trapped inside the wreckage, sparking fears the death toll will continue to grow.
The Coromandel Express passenger train, a Bengaluru-Howrah superfast express train and a freight train were involved in the accident near Balasore, about 137 miles southwest of Kolkata at around 7.20pm (2.50pm BST).
Local media reports showed images of a train car toppled to one side of the track with what appeared to be survivors on top of it, and local residents trying to pull other victims to safety.
Sudhanshu Sarangi, director general of Odisha Fire Services, earlier told AFP: “We have more than 120 deaths per the last count and the number is increasing as there are a lot of serious injuries, head injuries.
“A very sad incident and the prognosis is not good.”
Rescuers work at the site of passenger train that derailed in Balasore district. Photo / AP
Amitabh Sharma, executive director with the Indian Railways, said that the two passenger trains “had an active involvement in the accident” while “the third train, a goods train, which was parked at the site, also got [involved] in the accident”.
“The casualty figures from the ground or clarity on the number of injured is very difficult to assess for us at this moment,” he added.
He said 10 to 12 coaches from one train derailed, causing debris to fall onto a nearby track.
This was hit by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction, causing up to three coaches to come off the tracks.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
“Our top priority now is rescuing [the passengers] and providing health support to the injured,” Odisha state chief secretary Pradeep Jena said.
Nearly 500 police officers and rescue workers with more than 200 ambulances responded to the scene, Jena said.
‘I can see blood, broken limbs and people dying around me’
One male survivor said that “10 to 15 people fell on me when the accident happened and everything went haywire. I was at the bottom of the pile.
“I got hurt in my hand and also the back of my neck. When I came out of the train bogie, I saw someone had lost their hand, someone had lost their leg, while someone’s face was distorted,” the survivor told India’s ANI news agency.
Hundreds of young people lined up outside a government hospital in Odisha’s Soro to donate blood.
People inspect the site of passenger trains that derailed in India's Balasore district.
Photo / Press Trust of India via AP
“I was there at the site and I can see blood, broken limbs and people dying around me,” an eyewitness told Reuters.
Ashok Samal, a shopkeeper, told The Hindustan Times that he was ending his day near the railway line in his village of Bahanaga on Friday when he heard a huge crash.
He ran to the scene and saw a wreckage of destroyed train cars. People trapped underneath were calling for help.
“There were loud shrieks and blood all over,” he told the newspaper.
One survivor told TV news reporters that he had been sleeping when the accident happened, and woke to find himself trapped under around a dozen fellow passengers, before crawling out from the carriage with only injuries to his neck and arm.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced shortly after the crash that victims would be compensated, with the family of those killed receiving the equivalent of £9,700 ($19,927), around £2,000 ($4,108) for those with “grievous” injuries and £500 ($1,027) for “minor” injuries.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “distressed” by the accident, writing on Twitter: “In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon.”
He said he had talked with Vaishnaw and “all possible assistance is being given to those affected”.
The derailed Coromandel Express was travelling from Howrah in West Bengal state to Chennai, the capital of southern Tamil Nadu state.
Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India’s railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.
In August 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in the worst train accident in India’s history.
Most train accidents are blamed on human error or outdated signalling equipment.
More than 12 million people travel on 14,000 trains across India every day. The network is made up of 40,000 miles of railway tracks.
