50 Killed, over 400 Injured in a Major Train Accident Involving Two Passenger Trains
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 2: At least 50 people were killed and over 400 injured in a major train accident involving two passenger and a goods train in Balasore district in Odisha on Friday evening.
Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena said accident occurred when a passenger train hit the derailed coaches of another passenger train. Many are feared trapped and the casualties may rise. A third freight train was also involved in the accident, official said.
“At around 7 p.m., 10-12 coaches of the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed near Balasore and fell on the opposite track. After some time, another train from Yashwantpur to Howrah dashed into those derailed coaches resulting in the derailment of its 3-4 coaches,” Railway Spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said.
Odisha chief secretary, however, said the Coromandel Express, which was going from Shalimar station in Kolkata to Chennai rammed into the derailed coaches of the other train, which was going from Bengaluru to Kolkata. The two passenger trains involved in the accident were 12841 Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express and 12864 Yashwantpur-Howrah Superfast Express.
Fifteen coaches of Coromandel Express came off the tracks, while two of the other train got derailed. Odisha Fire Services chief Sudhanshu Sarangi is supervising rescue operations. Medical colleges and hospitals in and around Balasore have been alerted and 60 ambulances have been mobilised.
Over a hundred personnel of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and its state counterpart are looking for trapped passengers and cutting through the debris to reach them.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted he has spoken to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. “Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Spoke to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and took stock of the situation. Rescue ops are underway at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected,” Modi said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted she is monitoring the situation continually personally with the Chief Secretary and other senior officers. Banerjee and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin have extended their condolences and dispatched teams to aid in the ongoing rescue efforts. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed Special Relief Commissioner Satyabrata Sahoo and Revenue Minister Pramila Malik to rush to the accident site, officials said.
Accident relief trains have been dispatched to the spot, a South Eastern Railway official said. Four units of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), three units of NDRF and 60 ambulances were working to rescue the injured, officials said.
