More than 230 dead and 900 injured in the collision of several trains in India

At least 233 people were killed and 900 injured in eastern India after passenger train derailed and several wagons that overturned were hit by another train traveling in the opposite direction, according to the latest data from local authorities.

The accident happened around 19:20 local time (15:50 in mainland Spain), near the station in the city Bahanagain the state Odishawhere the rescue teams continue to work rapidly to help any victims who are still in place.

The accident occurred when the first passenger train plying the route between the cities of Shalimar, in Calcutta, and Chennai, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, derailed, after which a second train traveling from Yeswanthpur, in Bangalore, to Howrah, in Calcutti, collided with him, the Ministry of Railways said in a statement.

According to the footage taken by Jaragpur Centre, the express was traveling on a circular route until it collided with a freight train just behind Bahnagar Bazaar station at around 18:55 local time at a speed of 127 km/h. As a result of the collision, the express ended up derailed on the main road and a second collision was reported there, involving a third train, the Yashwantnagar express. “How it happened and why is something that will be known after a thorough investigation, but, at the outset, it appears to be human error,” a railway official told NDTV on condition of anonymity.

The main official death toll so far shows 238 deaths, but in the final hours the state’s finance minister, Pramila Mallick, reported 288 deaths during her visit to the crash site, according to India’s News18 television. The number of injured remains around 900. Rescue services, for their part, have almost completed their tasks and will now continue to retrieve bodies from the clutches of the massive accident, the deadliest since the one that took place in 1995 in Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, which resulted in with 350 deaths.

West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress on Friday demanded the resignation of Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who had already announced an inquiry to determine the cause of the accident and also expressed his condolences to relatives and friends of the victims.

The Indian authorities have announced a series of compensations of up to 200,000 rupees (more than 2,250 euros) for the relatives of the victims, and up to 50,000 rupees (more than 560 euros) for the injured, according to the television network NDTV.

Pictures of the accident show fifteen wagons overturned on the rails, with rescue teams trying to cut through the carriages so they could get inside and help the people still trapped inside.

The Ministry of Railways canceled more than a dozen trains covering the damaged section and diverted several of them, while minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced compensation of more than $12,000 for the dead, about $2,500 for the seriously injured and $606 for those with minor injuries. This is India’s worst rail accident in a decade, although she is used to experiencing these types of accidents, they are usually not as fatal. According to the latest report of India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 13,018 accidents took place in 2020, killing 11,986 people and injuring 11,127, with collisions accounting for 70% of accidents.

The Indian railway network, with a length of 68,000 kilometers, is the fourth longest in the world, behind the United States of America, Russia and China, has about 21,650 trains and 7,349 stations throughout the country, and transports about 23 million passengers daily. passengers.