[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text dp_text_size=”size-4″]A crash involving three trains in India’s eastern Odisha state has killed at least 261 people and injured 1,000 more.
On Friday, a passenger train derailed onto the adjacent track and was hit by an incoming train, as well as a nearby stationary freight train.
After hundreds of emergency workers searched the wreckage, a massive recovery operation is underway.
The cause of India’s worst train crash in more than 20 years is still unknown.
According to officials, several carriages of the Coromandel Express, which runs between Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and Chennai (formerly Madras), derailed around 19:00 (13:30 GMT) in the Balasore district after colliding with a stationary goods train. Several of its coaches ended up on the wrong path.
The overturned carriages were then hit by another train travelling in the opposite direction, the Howrah Superfast Express from Yesvantpur to Howrah.
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“The force with which the trains collided has resulted in several coaches being crushed and mangled,” said Atul Karwal, chief of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), according to ANI news agency.
According to the state’s chief secretary, Pradeep Jena, more than 200 ambulances and hundreds of doctors, nurses, and rescue personnel were dispatched to the scene.
Sudhanshu Sarangi, director general of Odisha Fire Services, had previously stated that 288 people had died.
All passengers who were trapped or injured have been rescued. It is unclear how serious the injuries sustained by those transported to hospitals were.
Work to restore the crash site began on Saturday, according to India’s South Eastern Railway company.
On Saturday afternoon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at the accident site.
Survivors and eyewitnesses have described chaotic scenes as well as the heroic efforts of residents of nearby villages to rescue trapped passengers.
Mukesh Pandit, who was trapped for 30 minutes before being rescued, told the BBC that he heard a “thunderous sound” before the carriage overturned.
“Four passengers from my village survived, but many others were injured or are still missing.” “A lot of people died in the bus I was in,” he added.
“I was hurt in my hand as well as the back of my neck.” When I came out, I saw that someone had lost a hand, someone had lost a leg, and someone’s face had been distorted,” the survivor told India’s ANI news agency.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
