CNN
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Rescuers in India are trying to find survivors after a crash involving three trains killing hundreds of people in one of the worst train disasters the country has ever seen.
At least 288 people confirmed dead and more than 1,000 injured after a collision between two passenger trains and a goods train in the city of Balasore, in the eastern state of Odisha, on Friday.
But rescuers expect the death toll to rise, as more people are believed to be trapped under the wagons.
“We are not very hopeful of saving anyone alive,” the Odisha Fire Service Chief, Sudhanshu Sarangi, told local news channel NDTV.
The cause of the crash remains unclear but Indian Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters on Saturday that a “high-level inquiry” had been ordered into the collision, which happened near Bahanaga railway station.
ANI/Reuters
A wrecked train carriage, after a fatal collision in Balasore, India, on June 2.
The incident reverberated across India, a country of 1.4 billion, prompting renewed calls for authorities to address safety issues that have plagued the country’s railways for decades.
Indian trains serve 13 million passengers a day, and 8 billion a year. While the government has recently invested millions to improve its railways, years of neglect have taken a toll on the railways.
Video footage and photos from the crash site on Friday showed scenes of chaos and despair. Several dead bodies can be seen lying next to the wrecked trains, while police and survivors stand nearby. Passengers’ personal belongings could be seen scattered inside the carriages and the windows were smashed, spilling glass and metal debris on the floor. The train carriages were destroyed.
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One of the passengers sitting in the second-to-last coach, Anshuman Purohi, told CNN he felt a “huge shake” and knew something was “very, very wrong. ”
“I opened the door and the scale [of the disaster] reveals itself. We saw the rest of the train in front of us in a ditch. As we walk, all we can do here is a great cry of people. Bloody people, running to our coach for help and water. ”
Purohi, who lives in Singapore and was visiting his family in Odisha, said some people he was with started calling emergency services, while he helped provide water.
“After walking across the tracks, you can see the magnitude of the accident,” he said.
Press Trust of India/AP
The crash site in Balasore district, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, on June 2.
“This is only one part of the total accident. We cannot see the front. The coaches are on top of each other. Coaches are on top of the carriage… People are thrown from the trains many feet apart. .”
Rohit Raj, a 19-year-old survivor, told CNN: “I was sleeping suddenly, I heard a loud crash. There was smoke everywhere, we couldn’t see. Everyone was screaming, everyone was panicking.”
“People are trying to run and escape from the train. The coach in front of me was badly damaged. People are very trapped. I saw people crowding each other. My coach derailed, but thankfully I was able to escape.”
Another survivor who did not share his name told local television that he fell asleep and panicked when the train derailed, causing about 15 people to fall on top of him.
“I’m at the bottom of the pile. My hand was injured, it hurt a lot, and the back of my neck,” he said. “When I got out of the train, I saw that someone had lost their hand, someone had lost their arm, someone had a damaged face.”
Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Narendra Singh Bundela, Inspector General of Operations of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRP), said that teams rescued passengers who were found alive at the scene, but many bodies were remained trapped under the derailed carriages.
“The coaches were very heavy and it was a difficult task to remove them and identify the bodies,” Bundela said, adding 17 coaches were derailed and badly damaged.
“This is a serious incident and the government has ordered an inquiry,” he said. “This century for India, as far as I know, it is one of the (worst) accidents.”
More than 115 ambulances and several fire service units were involved in the rescue effort. The Indian army, teams from the National Disaster Response Force, the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, and the state fire services were dispatched to the site.
Hundreds of people gathered outside local hospitals to donate blood, in a huge show of solidarity and support. About 500 units of blood were collected overnight with 900 units available now.
Manish, a volunteer, tried to donate blood at Soro Block Hospital, but was unable to enter as it was already filled with people offering help.
“There were literally dead bodies around,” he said. “The injured passengers are being treated outside the hospital due to the lack of beds.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences on Friday. “Depressed over the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families,” he wrote.
Modi was on his way to visit the site of the fatal train crash in Odisha on Saturday morning, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office on Twitter. Earlier in the day, he chaired a high-level meeting on the crash, his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party said.
A day of mourning will be observed in Odisha on Saturday.
Press Trust of India/AP
Rescuers search for survivors at the crash site in Balasore district, in India’s eastern Odisha state, on June 2.
India’s vast railway network suffers from aging infrastructure and poor maintenance – reasons often cited for accidents.
In 2021, more than 16,000 people died in almost 18,000 railway accidents across the country.
According to the National Crime Records, most railway accidents – 67.7% – are caused by falling from trains and collisions between trains and people on the railway.
The death toll from Friday’s crash has surpassed another high-profile incident in 2016, when more than 140 people died in a derailment in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
The latest crash comes as India undertakes a major overhaul of its infrastructure, with the country investing millions to revamp transport links.
In February, Modi inaugurated the first section of a 1,386-kilometer (861-mile) expressway linking the capital New Delhi to the financial hub of Mumbai.
Construction is also underway for the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, which aims to decongest India’s rail network.
Later this year, the country will open the Chenab Bridge – the world’s longest railway bridge – in the country’s Jammu and Kashmir region.
