More than 200 people are dead and 800 hurt after 2 trains derail in India

Rescuers work at the site of passenger trains that derailed in Balasore district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, on Friday.
Rescuers work at the site of passenger trains that derailed in Balasore district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, on Friday.
Press Trust of India via AP

Two passenger trains derailed Friday in India, killing more than 200 people and trapping hundreds of others inside more than a dozen damaged rail cars, officials said.

The accident that happened about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Kolkata created a chaotic scene of twisted wreckage and desperate rescuers as teams tried to free passengers and recover bodies. The cause was under investigation.

Fire Services Chief Sudhanshu Sarangi told the Press Trust of India that more than 800 people were hurt.

Ten to 12 coaches of one train derailed, and debris from some of the mangled coaches fell onto a nearby track, said Amitabh Sharma, a railroad ministry spokesperson.

The debris was hit by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction, and up to three coaches of the second train also derailed, Sharma said.

The Press Trust reported that a third train carrying freight was also involved, but there was no immediate confirmation from railroad authorities. The Press Trust report said some of the derailed passenger coaches hit cars from the freight train.

The death toll rose steadily throughout the night. As dawn approached, the top bureaucrat in the eastern state of Odisha announced that at least 207 were dead.

Passengers describe the scene

In the aftermath, television images showed rescuers climbing atop the wreckage to break open doors and windows and using cutting torches to free survivors.

Passenger Vandana Kaleda told the New Delhi Television news channel that she "found people falling on each other" as her coach shook violently and veered off the tracks. She said she was lucky to survive.

Another survivor who did not give his name said he was sleeping when the impact woke him up. He said he saw other passengers with broken limbs and disfigured faces.

Nearly 500 police officers and rescue workers with 75 ambulances and buses responded to the scene, said Pradeep Jena, the top bureaucrat of the Odisha state.

Rescuers were attempting to free 200 people feared trapped in the wreckage, Shinde said.

The Press Trust said the derailed Coromandel Express was traveling from Howrah in West Bengal state to Chennai, the capital of southern Tamil Nadu state.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his thoughts were with the bereaved families.

"May the injured recover soon," tweeted Modi, who said he had spoken to the railway minister and that "all possible assistance" was being offered.

Hundreds of railway accidents happen in India every year

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 signaling equipment.

More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest. Last updated from Wikipedia 2024-03-03T22:03:37Z.
More Reliable
Middle or Balanced Bias
Take-Down Requests
If you represent the source for this content and would like us to remove this from our site, please submit a takedown request above and we will review it promptly.
Something here about the community discussion ground rules. Recently updated charts from the most popular data releases according to the Federal Reserve Economic Database (FRED).
…..comments widget will be down here.
Recently updated charts from the most popular data releases according to the Federal Reserve Economic Database (FRED).