At least 30 people died and another 300 were injured on Friday when a passenger train collided with another freight train, in turn causing several carriages to overturn on the opposite track and be hit from another passenger train in the state of Odisha in eastern India.
The incident occurred around 7:20 pm local time (10:50 am in Argentina) near the station in the city of Bahanaga, and so far 300 people have been taken to nearby hospitals for their injuries, reportedly. Odisha government sources told Indian television NDTV.
The pictures of the accident show fifteen carts overturned on the platforms, with several people on board trying to rescue the passengers trapped inside.
An Odisha state official said rescuers were trying to free about 200 people who were feared trapped in the derailed train cars.
Railway accidents on the agenda
Several hundred accidents occur on Indian Railways every year. Most of the incidents are attributed to human errorsThey are outdated signaling equipment.
According to the latest report from India’s National Crime Recording Bureau (NCRB), there were in 2020 13,018 accidents, in which they died 11,986 people and 11,127 others were injured, with collisions causing 70% of crashes.
The Indian railway network is, with 68,000 kilometers of travelthe fourth largest in the world, after the United States, Russia and China, has about 21,650 trains and 7,349 stations across the country and carries about 23 million passengers a day.
rescued during the night
In the case of this Friday, the rescue operations continued during the night.
Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force, four units of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, more than 15 teams of firefighters, 30 doctors, 200 policemen and 60 ambulances have been mobilized to the scene, Odisha Secretary General Pradeep Kumar said .
One of the crashed passenger trains was traveling between the cities of Shalimar, in Calcutta, and Chennai, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, while the other was traveling from Yeswanthpur, in Bangalore, to Howrah, in Calcutta, according to reports. The Ministry of Railways on Twitter.
The Ministry of Railways canceled more than a dozen trains which covered the bumpy stretch and deviated the path of several.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his anguish over the incident and announced that he is in contact with the Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw to take stock of the situation.
Source: EFE and AP
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.