- After the devastating train accident in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, the cause of the accident has apparently been found.
- India’s railway minister spoke of an “error in the electronic signal box” and announced a comprehensive investigation report.
- The number of dead is now given as 288, the number of injured varies between 800 and 1000.
- The accident happened on Friday evening (local time) 200 kilometers southwest of Kolkata. Two passenger trains and one freight train were involved.
Legend:
Train wagons overturned and wedged into each other: an image from the air makes the extent of the destruction visible.
Reuters/Stringer
“An investigation will be made into who did this and what caused it,” Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in an interview with New Delhi Television.
In the accident in the Indian state of Odisha, two passenger trains and a freight train apparently collided after a derailment. How exactly that happened is still unclear. The accident happened on Friday evening around 7 p.m. local time (3 p.m. CEST), in a rural area of the Balasore district, a good 200 kilometers southwest of Kolkata (formerly: Calcutta).
Rescue work continues
As dawn broke on Saturday, the extent of the disaster became more apparent. About a dozen wrecked cars lay on and off the tracks, steel behemoths rearing up, some with compartment ceilings torn open, windows shattered.
On and next to the carriages, dozens of civil and official helpers tried desperately to rescue injured passengers under the tons of rubble. The rescue work continued in the dark and is stopping. Numerous other people could lie under the overturned wagons.
India known for train accidents
India’s ailing railway system with old trains and tracks in need of an overhaul is notorious for frequent accidents. But such high numbers of victims are extremely rare even in the huge country with 1.4 billion inhabitants.
![Man in front of train wrecks.](https://nvts-gb-ldn-gettotext.gettotext.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1685861395_276_Two-passenger-trains-crashed-train-crash-in-East-India.jpg)
Legend:
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the scene of the accident.
Reuters/Handout India’s Press Information Bureau
Shortly after the accident, the prime minister’s office announced compensation for the victims and their families.
Those responsible will be severely punished.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself announced the consequences. “Those responsible will be severely punished,” he said, according to local media such as the “Hindustan Times” when visiting the scene of the accident and injured people in a hospital. Instructions were given to consider “every angle” during the investigation.