300 dead, many still trapped in India’s three-train crash (with photos)

300 dead, many still trapped in India’s three-train crash (with photos)

About 290 people have been confirmed dead and over 1,000 injured in the collision between two passenger trains and a freight train in the city of Balasore, in eastern Odisha state of India, on Friday.

CNN reports that rescuers expect the death toll to rise further as many are feared trapped under upturned carriages.

“We are not very hopeful of rescuing anyone alive,” Odisha’s fire services chief, Sudhanshu Sarangi, told local news channel NDTV.

The cause of the crash remains unclear but railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters Saturday that a “high-level inquiry” has been ordered into the collision, which took place near the Bahanaga railway station.

The incident has reverberated across India, a nation of 1.4 billion, prompting renewed calls for authorities to address safety issues that have plagued the country’s railways for decades.

India’s trains serve 13 million passengers every day, and eight billion a year.

While the government recently invested millions to upgrade its railways, years of neglect have caused tracks to deteriorate.

Video footage and photographs from Friday’s crash site show scenes of chaos and despair. Dozens of dead bodies can be seen lying beside the mangled trains, while police officers and survivors stand nearby.

Passengers’ personal belongings can be seen strewn inside carriages and windows have been crushed, spilling glass and metal debris onto the floors. Train carriages have been torn apart.

One of the passengers sitting in the second to last coach, Anshuman Purohi, told CNN that he felt a “massive shake” and realized there was something “very, very wrong.

“I opened the door and the scale [of the disaster] revealed itself. We saw the rest of the train in front of us in a ditch. As we walked, all we could here was a huge wail of human cries; bloodied people running to our coach for help and water.”

Rohit Raj, a 19-year-old survivor, told CNN: “I was sleeping when all of a sudden, I heard a loud crash. There was smoke everywhere, we couldn’t see. Everyone was screaming; everyone was in shock.”

“People were trying to run and escape from the train. The coach in front of me was badly mangled. People were badly trapped. I saw people piled on top of each other. My coach derailed, but thankfully I managed to escape.”

Search for survivors

Rescuers are scrambling to find survivors after the crash in one of the worst rail disasters the country has ever seen.

Speaking to reporters Saturday, Narendra Singh Bundela, Inspector General of Operations at the National Disaster Response Force (NDRP), said teams had rescued passengers found alive at the site, but many bodies remained trapped under the derailed carriages.

“The coaches are very heavy and it’s been a difficult task to remove them and identify bodies,” Bundela said, adding 17 coaches were derailed and severely 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 (most) serious accidents.”

More than 115 ambulances and several fire service units are involved in the rescue effort.

The Indian army, teams from the National Disaster Response Force, the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, and the state’s fire services have been dispatched to the site.

Hundreds of people have gathered outside local hospitals to donate blood, in a massive show of solidarity and support. About 500 units of blood were collected overnight with 900 units currently in stock.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted his condolences on Friday, stating, “Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families.”

Modi was on his way to visit the site of the deadly train crash in Odisha on Saturday morning, according to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office on Twitter.

A day of mourning will be observed in the Odisha on Saturday.

In 2021, more than 16,000 people were killed in nearly 18,000 railway accidents across the country.

According to the National Crime Records, most railway accidents – 67.7% – were due to falls from trains and collisions between trains and people on the track.

The latest crash comes as India carries out a major overhaul of its infrastructure, with the country investing millions to modernise 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 railway network.

Later this year, the country will open Chenab Bridge – the world’s tallest railway bridge – in the country’s Jammu and Kashmir region.