Balasore (TIP)- At least 238 people were killed and around 900 were injured in a horrific three-train collision in Odisha’s Balasore, officials said on May 3, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said a high-level committee will be set up to investigate the train crash.
The crash involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, and a goods train. The accident saw one train ram so hard into another that carriages were lifted high into the air, twisting and then smashing off the tracks. Another carriage had been tossed entirely onto its roof, crushing the passenger section.
“Everything was shaking and we could feel the coach toppling,” Sanjay Mukhia, a daily wage worker travelling to Chennai on the Coromandel-Shalimar Express, told NDTV, showing his injuries.
According to another survivor, severed limbs were scattered over the ripped metal wreckage. “I was sleeping when the train derailed. Some 10-15 people fell over me. When I came out of the coach, I saw limbs scattered all around, a leg here, a hand there…someone’s face was disfigured,” the survivor said. “The rescue operation has been completed, now we are starting the restoration work,” Amitabh Sharma, Railways Spokesperson, said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has declared one-day state mourning in view of the horrific train crash.
The Railway Minister visited the accident site this morning to take stock of the situation. “Restoration work will take place immediately. Staff and equipment is ready for restoration work, but our first priority is rescue and medical aid to those injured. We will know details only after a detailed inquiry. An independent inquiry will be done,” he said.
Vaishnaw has also announced compensation of Rs 10 lakh for those who have died, Rs 2 lakh for those seriously injured and Rs 50,000 for those who sustained minor injuries in the accident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi too expressed his distress over the accident, and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the family of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured from the PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).
48 trains have been cancelled, 39 diverted and 10 trains have been short terminated due to the accident, which happened on the Howrah-Chennai main line in the Kharagpur division of the South Eastern Railway. Source: NDTV