Odisha train crash: Prelim report states ‘signal was given and taken off’; PM promises stringent action against guilty; Death toll mounts to 288

Balasore/Bhubaneswar, Jun 3 (PTI) Investigators were on Saturday looking into any human error, signal failure and other possible causes behind the three-train crash in Odisha’s Balasore district as officials submitted a preliminary inquiry report into one of the worst accidents that left at least 288 people dead and over 800 injured.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the accident site and was briefed by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw as well as officers of the disaster management teams. He also met some of the injured at the hospital.

“I do not have words to express the pain… Stringent action will be taken against those found guilty… No one will be spared,” Modi said.

The crash involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, which were carrying around 2,000 passengers, and a goods train occurred around 7 PM on Friday near the Bahanaga Bazar station in Balasore, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar.

Seventeen coaches were derailed and severely damaged in the accident, trapping hundreds of passengers. Both passenger trains were at a high speed and it has been cited by experts as one of the main reasons for the high number of casualty.

From a vantage point high above the ground, the disaster site looked as if a powerful whirlwind had thrown the coaches like toys on top of each other. Closer to the ground, bloodied,disfigured bodies and dismembered body parts lay enmeshed, creating a grotesque sight.

Large cranes were deployed to move the wreckage and gas cutters were used to extricate the bodies from the mangled, toppled coaches.

The rescue operation was wrapped up Saturday afternoon and restoration work started. The injured were admitted to four hospitals.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that a signal was given to Coromandel Express to enter the main line but it was taken off and the train entered the loop line, where it crashed into a goods train parked there.

The Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express which was coming at high speed crashed into the coaches of Coromandel Express that had scattered on the adjacent track.

Citing reports available till 2 pm Saturday, the official said 288 people were killed in the accident.

The official said 803 people were injured in the accident. Of them, 56 suffered grievous injuries, the official added.

Shocked survivors recalled their brush with death, while families in several states including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Odisha underwent a painful wait to know the fate of their loved ones.

“The train was running at a high speed. Around 7 pm, a loud sound was heard and it was chaos after that. I fell down on the floor from the upper berth. It was ghastly, many people with grave injuries were lying around,” Mizan Ul Haq, a resident of Bardhaman who was in a coach at the rear of the Howrah Superfast Express train, said.

Another Bardhaman resident, a carpenter who works in Bengaluru, said he was injured in the chest, feet and head when the coach in which he was travelling turned turtle.
“We had to break open the windows and jump out of the compartment to save ourselves,” he said, adding he saw many dead bodies after the accident.