Dozens are feared dead and over a hundred have been injured in India after a passenger train derailed and collided with another train in Odisha's Balasore district, trapping scores in the derailed coaches.
“So far more than 300 people have been reported to hospitals. There are two passenger trains and one goods train involved,” Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena told local broadcaster NDTV following the incident on Friday.
The chief minister of nearby West Bengal state, Mamata Banerjee, said that the Shalimar-Coromondel Express, carrying passengers from West Bengal, collided with a goods train.
Amitabh Sharma, a railroad ministry spokesperson, said some mangled pieces of the derailed train fell onto a nearby track and were hit by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction.
A massive rescue operation has been launched at the spot after the accident, according to the officials. The cause of the derailment was being investigated.
The country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon.”
Rail safety
The Press Trust of India news agency said the derailed Coromandel Express was traveling from Howrah in West Bengal state to Chennai, the capital of southern Tamil Nadu state.
Television images showed rescue teams trying to take passengers out of mangled coaches. New Delhi television news reported that 179 people were taken to hospitals.
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Most train accidents are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.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.
