Death toll rises in worst accident in India’s history

In India’s worst rail accident on Friday evening, dismembered bodies and horrifying scenes have left survivors traumatized. So far, 300 people have been confirmed dead and 900 injured, of whom at least 56 are in serious condition. The incident involved three trains and has left a trail of destruction and suffering.

The tragic event occurred at around 7:00 p.m. on Friday, when the Coromandel Express, a passenger train connecting Kolkata with Chennai, collided with a freight train parked near Balasore in Odisha State. This impact caused the displacement of some convoys towards the opposite track, where the Howrah Superfast Express was traveling. This last train was traveling at a speed of approximately 120 kilometers per hour and collided violently with the displaced wagons. In total, the two trains carried about 3,400 passengers.

The Odisha accident has become one of the worst rail disasters in India’s history, surpassing the number of victims in number of victims in 1981, with more than 800 deaths, and in 1995, with 358 deaths. The country’s public railway network, which has more than 68,000 kilometers of tracks, is used daily by approximately 9.6 million people, according to data from the Ministry of Railways for 2021. That same year, 17,993 train accidents were recorded, which They killed 16,431 people and injured 1,850 others, according to a report by India’s National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB).

Desperate to find their loved ones, the relatives of the victims have cried out for help among the bodies piled up around the tracks. More than a dozen carriages derailed and were scattered on and around the tracks, while many passengers were trapped inside the trains.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the site of the accident, as well as the injured and their families, and expressed his grief and solidarity. “The government will not leave a stone unturned in trying to help those affected and in investigating the event from all angles,” the prime minister declared. “If there are guilty, they will be harshly punished,” he added from a hospital in the area.

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