Odisha rail accident: NDRF ends operation, withdraws all 9 teams

New Delhi, Jun 5 (PTI) The National Disaster Response Force on Monday ended its rescue operation with the withdrawal of all its nine teams from the triple train accident site in Odisha’s Balasore district that has claimed at least 275 lives, officials said.

The force rescued 44 victims and retrieved 121 bodies from the spot since the teams were deployed after the accident on June 2, they said.

The operation has ended and all nine teams have now been withdrawn as there are no live or dead victims present at the accident site near the Bahanaga Bazar Railway Station. Eight teams were relieved on Sunday, while one was drawn out on Monday, they said.

The nine teams had joined the personnel of state disaster forces and the local administration to undertake rescue and relief operations after they were sent in from Balasore, Mundali (Cuttack district) and Kolkata.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescuers carried heavy plasma and gas cutters, lifting pads, stretchers, canine teams and other equipment to undertake the operation.

The Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express entered the wrong track and hit a stationary goods train on Friday. Its coaches got scattered all around, including on an adjoining track and another passenger train — Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express — coming at a high speed rammed into them and derailed.