The tragedy that caused the death of more than 288 people in India seems to have a human origin. On Friday evening, three trains collided, becoming one of the biggest train disasters in the country’s history. “We have identified the cause of the accident and the people responsible for it,” Indian Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told ANI news agency on Sunday, adding that he was “not not appropriate” to disclose further details before the final investigation report.
According to the minister, “the change that occurred during the electronic switching is at the origin of the accident”, in reference to the complex computer system managing the traffic on the Indian railways to prevent the collision of trains. “The culprit and the manner in which the accident occurred will be discovered after a proper investigation,” he added.
Signaling “human error”
The first conclusions of the investigation have not yet been made, but the Times of India, citing a preliminary investigation report, said on Sunday that “human error” in signaling may have caused the collision between three trains. The Coromandel Express, linking Calcutta to Madras, had been given the green light to run on the main track but was diverted to a track where a freight train was already located, according to the newspaper.
The passenger train then crashed at a speed of about 130 km / h into the convoy of goods, near Balasore, about 200 kilometers from Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern state of Odisha. India. Three carriages fell onto the adjacent track, hitting the rear of an express train which was operating between Bangalore and Kolkata. It was this collision that caused the most damage, adds the Times.
“Someone should be punished”
At least 288 people died in the tragedy and more than 900 others were injured. But the death toll could be much higher and reach 380 dead, according to the chief executive of the Odisha State Fire Service, Sudhanshu Sarangi. According to Arvind Agarwal, manager of a temporary morgue set up in a high school, the bodies are “mostly unrecognizable” after more than twenty-four hours of scorching heat.
“So the biggest test (for the families) is the identification of the bodies,” he adds, sitting in the school principal’s office. Arvind Agarwal has already warned the families that they will probably have to submit to DNA tests to help identify the corpses. Mohammad Abid, 35, told AFP his 18-year-old son escaped unharmed but was looking for his cousin, who was traveling with him.
“I want to know how two trains could have run on the same track (…) someone should be punished for that,” he added. Vishwanath Sahni, 47, is bereaved and searches for his 26-year-old son Manoj Kumar, who was traveling to Madras to work in the textile industry. After making the rounds of the hospitals, in despair, he resigned himself to looking for him in the morgue. At his side, his friend Mahender Yadav, 60, whose two sons who were traveling with Manoj Kumar are recovering in hospital. “One of them is seriously injured, but I know they are in hospital and the doctors will do their best,” Mahender Yadav told AFP, “I just wanted to be with Vishwanath Sahni in hoping that he finds his son”.
Country’s deadliest rail crash since 1995
“No one responsible” for the accident will be spared, promised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who went to the scene of the disaster on Saturday and met the injured in hospital. “I pray that we get out of this sad moment as soon as possible,” he told public broadcaster Doordarshan. After Pope Francis and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in particular, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented his “sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims”, hailing “the heroic efforts of first responders and medical personnel “.
At this stage, this train accident is the deadliest in India since 1995, when two express trains collided in Firozabad, near Agra, which is home to the Taj Mahal, killing more than 300 people. India has seen a number of deadly train accidents, but safety has improved in recent years thanks to new investments and technological improvements. The deadliest in the country’s history remains that of June 6, 1981 when, in the state of Bihar (east), seven wagons of a train crossing a bridge fell into the Bagmati River, killing between 800 and 1,000 people. .