Photo courtesy Twitter-AIRAAAOFFICIAL
At least 288 people lost their lives—with more fatalities expected—and over 900 others were injured on Friday after two passenger trains collided in the Indian state of Odisha, making the rail accident India’s deadliest in more than 20 years.
The state declared Saturday (today) a day of mourning to pay respect to the lives lost. According to local media, disaster struck when an express train traveling north from Bengaluru to Kolkata derailed onto the adjacent southbound track. Minutes after the derailment, the Coromandel Express heading from Kolkata to Chennai smashed into the wreckage, with some of its coaches further colliding with a goods train parked nearby.
Rescue teams, including from the National Disaster Response Force and Air Force were dispatched to aid in the relief efforts, as the railways ministry announced an investigation to determine the causes of the accident. Authorities told media that due to the high casualty count, every hospital between the crash site and the state capital Bhubaneswar—roughly 200 kilometers away—was receiving victims, with 200 ambulances and buses deployed to transport them.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi—scheduled to visit the crash site and hospitals later on Saturday—said he was “distressed” by the accident. “In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon,” he posted on Twitter.
The crash is the third-worst in India’s history. The worst occurred in 1981 when a train derailed while crossing a bridge in Bihar and plunged into the river below, killing between 800 and 1,000 people. The second-worst crash occurred in 1995, when two express trains collided in Firozabad, killing more than 300 people.
Footage from the crash site showed wreckage and debris piled on top of each other, with some carriages flipped over entirely and others tossed far from the tracks. Survivors, speaking with local TV channels, said they had initially heard a crashing road, before seeing people falling from upper berths. “There were injured lying everywhere inside coaches and along the tracks. I want to forget the scenes,” said one survivor. Another said they had seen “mangled bodies” and people with severed limbs.
Pakistan condoles
In separate statements, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari expressed sadness over the crash and offered their condolences to the families of victims. “Deeply saddened by the loss of hundreds of lives in a train accident in India,” Sharif wrote on Twitter. “I extend by heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families who lost their loves ones in this tragedy. Prayers for speedy recovery of the injured,” he added.
The foreign minister, meanwhile, said he was “saddened” to learn of the high death toll in the crash. “Our condolences for the families of the victims. Wish speedy recovery to the injured,” he wrote on Twitter.