At least 50 people have died and hundreds of others have been injured in a train crash in eastern India. The incident occurred in Odisha’s Balasore district when a passenger train derailed and collided with another passenger service, which then struck a goods train. The cause of the crash is currently under investigation.
Rescue teams were working to free approximately 200 people who were feared trapped in the derailed carriages. The Coromandel Express, which operates between Kolkata and Chennai, derailed and fell onto the opposite track after the collision. All hospitals in the Balasore district were placed on high alert.
According to Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde, the administrator of the Balasore district, at least 50 people were confirmed dead. Pradeep Jena, Odisha’s chief secretary, stated that around 500 police officers and rescue workers, along with 75 ambulances and buses, responded to the accident. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed distress over the incident and confirmed ongoing rescue operations at the crash site.
A spokesperson from the railroad ministry, Amitabh Sharma, reported that 10 to 12 coaches of one train had derailed, causing debris to fall onto a nearby track. A passenger named Vandana Kaleda recounted her experience of people falling on each other as her coach shook violently and veered off the tracks, expressing gratitude for her survival.
India’s railway network, which is managed under a single authority, carries over 12 million passengers daily on 40,000 miles of track. Despite government initiatives to enhance rail safety, the country still experiences numerous accidents each year, with most attributed to human error or outdated signaling equipment.
