India's worst train crash in decades kills at least 288; signal error may be to blame - The Straits Times

BHUBANESWAR, India - At least 288 people have died in India’s worst rail crash in over two decades, officials said on Saturday, after a passenger train went off the tracks and hit another one in an accident a preliminary report blamed on signal failure.

One train in Friday’s accident in the district of Balasore in Odisha state, in the east of the country, also hit a freight train parked nearby, leaving a tangled mess of smashed rail cars and injuring 803.

The death toll has reached 288, said Mr K. S. Anand, chief public relations officer of the South Eastern Railway.

Bodies were still trapped in the mangled coaches and the rescue operation was continuing, a Reuters witness said on Saturday, with the death toll expected to rise.

The collision occurred at around 7pm (9.30pm Singapore time) on Friday when the Howrah Superfast Express from Bengaluru to Howrah in West Bengal collided with the Coromandel Express from Kolkata to Chennai.

A preliminary report indicates that the accident was the result of signal failure, Mr Anand said.

“The Coromandel Express was supposed to travel on the main line, but a signal was given for the loop line instead, and the train rammed into a goods train already parked over there. Its coaches then fell onto the tracks on either side, also derailing the Howrah Superfast Express,” he said.

Accompanied by officials and Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspected the wreckage and told the local authorities to ensure that they provide the affected families with all the help they needed, Indian media said.

The Prime Minister also visited some survivors of Friday’s tragedy at a hospital in Balasore.

Mr Modi tweeted that he was “distressed by the train accident”.

“In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families,” he said. “May the injured recover soon.”

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2023-06-03 16:28:36Z
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