On Friday evening, a tragic train accident took place in Odisha’s Balasore, when two Express trains collided that has already claimed the lives of over 50 people and more than hundreds of passengers are left inured, the rescue operations is underway.
Railway Spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said, at around 7 PM in the evening, about 10-12 coaches of the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed and fell on the opposite track, after a while, the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express rammed into the derailed coaches of Coromandel express that resulted to the derailment of its own coaches.
The dreadful accident has taken place near the Bahanga railway station in Balasore district of Odisha, which is around 120 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar.
Reports said, a three-way accident took place and involves a good carriage train in the accident.
While no official confirmation has been received on the total death toll, reports claimed more than 50 people are already dead with the numbers substantially increasing and around 300 are injured.
Some local channels of Odisha have reported, over 70 dead and around 350 injured.
The Central and state government along with the railway department have mounted a huge rescue operation but is finding it extremely difficult to clear and rush the injured to the nearest medical facilities.
National and State Disaster Management teams along with fire fighting teams and other rescue operation teams are already in place carrying out the rescue operations.
At-least 50 ambulances and 15 fire operations team from the neighbouring districts were rushed to save the trapped passengers, said to be in hundreds in number.
The government has also issued dedicated helpline numbers for various affected regions.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed about compensation to the victims. Rs 10 lakh is announced for the deceased family members, Rs 2 lakh for critically injured and Rs 50,000 for minor injured victims.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik rushed to the state control room to personally take stock of the situation and direct measures for the rescue and relief operations.
Patnaik informed he will fly to the spot in the first thing in morning.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing his grief over the terrible accident expressed his thoughts with the bereaved families and prayed for the speedy recovery of the inured.
PM Modi assured all possible assistance to the affected.
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