At least 288 people were killed and more than 850 injured in a collision between three trains in eastern India, authorities said Saturday, in the country’s worst rail disaster in more than 20 years.
AFP reporters at the scene of the tragedy near Balasore, in the state of Odisha (east), observed smashed train compartments, with twisted pieces of metal and stained with blood.
Some carriages were completely flipped over and rescue teams searched for survivors trapped in the wreckage of the vehicles, while dozens of bodies lay next to the tracks covered by white sheets.
The sunrise on Saturday allowed the rescue teams to verify the magnitude of the tragedy. Odisha fire chief Sudhanshu Sarangi said the death toll was 288.
“Rescue work continues,” he told AFP from the scene of the tragedy. In addition, there are “many serious injuries,” she added.
Rail accidents are not unusual in India, which has seen several such disasters in the past, but this catastrophe is considered the deadliest since the 1990s.
The chief secretary of the state of Odisha, Pradeep Jena, further confirmed that “about 850 injured were sent to hospitals” after the event occurred about 200 kilometers from the state capital, Bhubaneswar.
“Our top priority now is to rescue (passengers) and provide medical support to the injured,” he claimed.
Amitabh Sharma, chief executive of Indian Railways, told AFP that two passenger trains “were directly involved in the accident” and that “a third freight train was parked at the site and was also involved.”
A survivor told local television reporters that he was sleeping when the accident occurred, only to wake up trapped among a dozen passengers. He managed to crawl out of the convoy, with injuries to his neck and arm.
Another television station showed graphic images of an overturned wagon and people trying to remove the victims.
Overcrowded hospitals
Given the high number of people affected, the injured were transferred both by ambulance and by bus to any hospital that had space.
“We prepare all the large public and private hospitals from the accident site to the state capital to care for the injured”stressed SK Panda, spokesman for the Odisha state authorities.
It added that “75 ambulances” were dispatched to the scene and “many buses” were also deployed to transport injured passengers at a time.
At Bhadrak district hospital, ambulances carried bloodied and shocked survivors, receiving care in crowded wards.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “distressed” by the accident.
“In this hour of pain, my thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones. May the injured recover soon,” Modi said on Twitter.
The president also said he had spoken with the Minister of Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw, to “study the situation.”
He assured that he was going to the scene of the accident and that rescue teams had been mobilized, including the National Disaster Response Force and the air force.
“We will use all the hands necessary for the rescue operation,” Vaishnaw tweeted.
Despite this incident, rail safety had improved significantly in the country in recent years thanks to massive investments and technological upgrades.
The deadliest rail accident in the country dates back to June 6, 1981 in the state of Bihar (east), where seven train carriages plunged from a bridge into a river, causing between 800 and 1,000 deaths.
More recently, on November 20, 2016, a train with 2,000 occupants derailed in the state of Uttar Pradesh (north) while most of the passengers were asleep, causing 146 deaths and 180 injuries.
In this century, India has had 13 train accidents with more than 50 victims, three of them the result of attacks.