/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23962442/acastro_STK067__03.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24247717/lp_logo_3.0.jpg){kind=logo}
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24016885/STK093_Google_04.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24808816/Starfield__The_Settled_Systems___Supra_Et_Ultra_____Starfield__The_Settled_Systems___Su)
[ad_1]
More than 200 people have died in a train accident in eastern India, officials said, in one of the country’s deadliest rail accidents in decades.
At least 233 people were killed and 900 injured when several trains collided in the state of Odisha on Friday night, according to state Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena.
The Coromandel Express, which was traveling from Kolkata to Chennai in South India, collided with a derailed train going from Bengaluru to Kolkata. Local media reported that a stationary freight train was also trapped in the collision.
Pictures shown on TV showed train coaches scattered on the tracks, some of them piled on top of each other. Eyewitnesses reported seeing bodies of dead and mutilated victims around the site.
“When I got out of the train, I saw limbs scattered all over, one leg here, one arm there,” a survivor told broadcaster NDTV.
A rescue operation was underway on Saturday morning as workers searched for passengers trapped inside the mangled trains. Officials did not immediately say what caused the collision, which happened near the city of Balasore, and said they were investigating.
Friday’s accident was the deadliest since 1999, when 285 people died in a train accident in the state of West Bengal.
According to the Times of India, Vidhan Jena, a passenger on one of the trains, said, “There was a deafening sound and then our train went backwards and stopped with a big jolt.” “I was shocked to see dead bodies lying here and there. It was a terrifying sight.
India’s railway network is one of the largest in the world and is vital for nationwide passenger and freight transport.
But the aging system suffers from chronic underinvestment and has been a series of tragic and fatal accidents. In 2016, a train derailed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, killing more than 150 people.
India’s Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnav wrote on Twitter on Friday night that he was “going to the site in Odisha”.
He said that along with the country’s Air Force, rescue teams from different states are being deployed. “We will extend all possible help to the rescue operations,” he added.
“In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. Wishing speedy recovery to the injured,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter.
