News Analysis India

Tag: Balasore Train Accident

  • Odisha government revises death toll in triple train crash to 288

    By PTI

    BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Tuesday revised the death toll in the Balasore train crash to 288.

    Speaking to reporters, Chief Secretary PK Jena said, 275 deaths were confirmed till Monday, and after verification of bodies, the figure was raised to 288.

    Jena said that 205 bodies of the total 288 have been identified so far and handed over to their families.

    The remaining 83 bodies were kept at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar and other hospitals for identification, he said.

    “We have received many queries on the helpline numbers released by the government. We are optimistic that all bodies will be identified,” Jena said.

    He said the state government was bearing the cost of treatment of the injured, and transportation of bodies to respective destinations.

    Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sanctioned Rs 1.95 crore for ex-gratia payment to the families of 39 deceased persons from Odisha.

    According to the government, Rs 5 lakh will be given to the kin of each deceased person as ex-gratia. The money was being provided from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF).

    BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Tuesday revised the death toll in the Balasore train crash to 288.

    Speaking to reporters, Chief Secretary PK Jena said, 275 deaths were confirmed till Monday, and after verification of bodies, the figure was raised to 288.

    Jena said that 205 bodies of the total 288 have been identified so far and handed over to their families.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The remaining 83 bodies were kept at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar and other hospitals for identification, he said.

    “We have received many queries on the helpline numbers released by the government. We are optimistic that all bodies will be identified,” Jena said.

    He said the state government was bearing the cost of treatment of the injured, and transportation of bodies to respective destinations.

    Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sanctioned Rs 1.95 crore for ex-gratia payment to the families of 39 deceased persons from Odisha.

    According to the government, Rs 5 lakh will be given to the kin of each deceased person as ex-gratia. The money was being provided from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF).

  • Odisha train accident: More than 100 bodies still waiting to be claimed

    By Express News Service

    BHUBANESWAR: Even as the state government started the process of identification and handing over of bodies of the deceased to the next of kin, around 100 victims are yet to be identified.

    Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena on Monday said 176 bodies (91 in Bhubaneswar and 85 in Balasore) have been identified so far and are being handed over for transfer to their destination after due process. “Arrangements for free transportation of the bodies by hearses/dead body carriers till destination have been made to help the bereaved families, who are already under a lot of trauma,” he told media persons.

    The chief secretary said arrangements have also been made to collect applications for death certificates and process the same for transportation of bodies within minimum time with the help of Balasore police, hospital authorities and municipality. The death certificates will be sent electronically or via speed post, he said.

    The state government has also issued two toll-free numbers – 18003450061/1929 – for those looking for their relatives. “People can call the numbers from anywhere in India for information on the dead and the injured,” Jena said.  

    Once they arrive in Odisha, government officials will receive them and facilitate the body identification process in an organised manner, the chief secretary said.  The Odisha government on Monday revised the injured tally in the accident from 1,175 to 1,207. While 1,207 were admitted to different government and private hospitals in the state, 1,009 have been discharged. Of the remaining 198 under treatment, one patient is in critical care. 

    The chief secretary said there is no dearth of blood for the treatment of injured persons. People across the state are voluntarily donating blood. Due to cooperation of all, there is no shortage of blood.  

    Preservation of bodies, however, has emerged as a major challenge. AIIMS, Bhubaneswar has received 123 dead bodies and 43 have been handed over to the next of their kin after following necessary protocol and identification. 

    AIIMS executive director, Ashutosh Biswas said five containers have been procured from Paradip port to store the dead bodies for a longer period.  “As no hospital has adequate deep freezers to keep so many bodies, we have brought five containers from Paradip port. We can keep around 30 to 40 bodies in a single container,” he added. 

    Biswas said at present, AIIMS has 80 dead bodies and the identification process is on. The identification of 15 to 16 bodies has been completed and they will be handed over after completion of necessary formalities, he added.

    A DNA testing centre has also been made functional in AIIMS where family members can give samples for DNA testing and matching. The tests would help speedy identification of the victims and ensure genuine relatives get the bodies.

    BHUBANESWAR: Even as the state government started the process of identification and handing over of bodies of the deceased to the next of kin, around 100 victims are yet to be identified.

    Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena on Monday said 176 bodies (91 in Bhubaneswar and 85 in Balasore) have been identified so far and are being handed over for transfer to their destination after due process. “Arrangements for free transportation of the bodies by hearses/dead body carriers till destination have been made to help the bereaved families, who are already under a lot of trauma,” he told media persons.

    The chief secretary said arrangements have also been made to collect applications for death certificates and process the same for transportation of bodies within minimum time with the help of Balasore police, hospital authorities and municipality. The death certificates will be sent electronically or via speed post, he said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The state government has also issued two toll-free numbers – 18003450061/1929 – for those looking for their relatives. “People can call the numbers from anywhere in India for information on the dead and the injured,” Jena said.  

    Once they arrive in Odisha, government officials will receive them and facilitate the body identification process in an organised manner, the chief secretary said.  The Odisha government on Monday revised the injured tally in the accident from 1,175 to 1,207. While 1,207 were admitted to different government and private hospitals in the state, 1,009 have been discharged. Of the remaining 198 under treatment, one patient is in critical care. 

    The chief secretary said there is no dearth of blood for the treatment of injured persons. People across the state are voluntarily donating blood. Due to cooperation of all, there is no shortage of blood.  

    Preservation of bodies, however, has emerged as a major challenge. AIIMS, Bhubaneswar has received 123 dead bodies and 43 have been handed over to the next of their kin after following necessary protocol and identification. 

    AIIMS executive director, Ashutosh Biswas said five containers have been procured from Paradip port to store the dead bodies for a longer period.  “As no hospital has adequate deep freezers to keep so many bodies, we have brought five containers from Paradip port. We can keep around 30 to 40 bodies in a single container,” he added. 

    Biswas said at present, AIIMS has 80 dead bodies and the identification process is on. The identification of 15 to 16 bodies has been completed and they will be handed over after completion of necessary formalities, he added.

    A DNA testing centre has also been made functional in AIIMS where family members can give samples for DNA testing and matching. The tests would help speedy identification of the victims and ensure genuine relatives get the bodies.

  • Odisha train crash: CBI set to take over probe, loco movement resumes on restored tracks

    By PTI

    BALASORE/NEW DELHI: The CBI is all set to take over the investigation into the Balasore train crash, while train movement resumed on the crucial route connecting eastern and southern India with the first semi-high-speed Vande Bharat train passing through the area Monday morning.

    The Government Railway Police (GRP) has registered a case under various sections of the IPC and Railway Act including those related to causing death by negligence in connection with the Friday accident.

    The Congress and other opposition parties questioned the need to hand over the case to the CBI but officials stressed that findings of a preliminary probe like “deliberate interference” in the system necessitated the investigation by a professional agency.

    The railways has also launched a safety drive with a slew of directions to all zonal headquarters on the security of station relay rooms and compounds housing signalling equipment, including “double locking arrangements” after an initial probe showed “signalling interference” as a suspected reason behind the Odisha triple-train accident.

    In accordance with the procedure, the CBI will take over the Balasore GRP case number 64 registered by Odisha Police on June 3, official sources said, adding it is likely to be allotted to Special Crime Unit at the Delhi Headquarters.

    The case was registered under various IPC sections like 37 and 38 (related to causing hurt and endangering lives through rash or negligent action), 304A (causing death by negligence) and 34 (common intention), and sections 153 (unlawful and negligent action endangering lives of Railway passengers ), 154 and 175 (endangering lives) of the Railways Act.

    ALSO READ | ‘I am haunted by it’: Survivors of Odisha triple train crash recount trauma

    Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had announced on Sunday evening that a CBI probe had been recommended into the three-train crash.

    The crash on Friday involving two passenger trains and a goods train killed 275 people and injured more than 1,100, while the movement of goods and passenger trains on the busy route was also disrupted.

    Around 51 hours after the triple train crash and barely five hours after the damaged tracks were restored, train movement resumed late Sunday night with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who has been camping at the site to oversee restoration work, and other senior officials present at the site.

    A coal-laden goods train from Vizag port to Rourkela Steel Plant was the first to run on the route around 10.40 pm on Sunday night. Vaishnaw waved to the train drivers.

    The first high-speed passenger train – Howrah-Puri Vande Bharat Express – passed through Balasore on Monday morning, with wreckage from the accident still lying near the tracks and workers cleaning the site. The train slowed down to a crawl as it passed by the site of Friday night’s train crash near Bahanga Bazar station.

    The Howrah-Puri Express and Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Sampark Kranti Express also passed the route.

    ALSO READ | Odisha train crash ‘entirely due to human error’, say railway sources

    Railway officials had earlier indicated that possible “sabotage” and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the accident involving the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train.

    Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the CBI cannot fix accountability for technical, institutional and political failures Kharge also said “all the empty safety claims” of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw have now been “exposed” and the government must bring to light the real reasons that caused this grave accident, which he described as one of the worst in Indian history.

    In his four-page letter to Modi, the Congress chief said there is serious concern among the common passengers about the deterioration in safety of railways “The CBI, or any other law enforcement agency, cannot fix accountability for technical, institutional and political failures. In addition, they lack the technical expertise in railway safety, signalling, and maintenance practices,” the Congress chief said.

    Rejecting a CBI probe, Odisha units of 12 political parties, including Congress and Left parties, demanded the formation of a Special Investigation Team and the resignation of Vaishnaw to pave the way for an impartial inquiry.

    The parties, including Congress, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) Liberation, CPI(ML) Red Star, All India Forward Bloc, Samajwadi Party, RJD, NCP, RPI, AAP and Samata Kranti Dal.

    These parties held a joint meeting and passed a resolution stating that they rejected a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), accusing the central agency of “working at the behest of the BJP.”

    Reacting to questions on the need for a CBI probe when the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) was already probing the incident, an official indicated that the preliminary inquiry revealed the need for a more thorough investigation.

    “Lot of information has come during the course of the investigation. Various kinds of information have been made available which required a professional investigative agency,” he said.

    ALSO READ | Odisha train crash: How did the derailment happen?

    The accident in which a speeding Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary goods train on the loop line instead of travelling on the main line indicated issues with the electronic interlocking system which changed the route of the train and led to the collision.

    “Unless there is deliberate interference in the system, it is impossible that a route set for the main line is switched to the loop line,” he said.

    Meanwhile, in a letter to general managers of all zones, the Railway Board has directed that a safety drive should be launched immediately with a special focus on all ‘goomties’ (rooms along tracks) housing signalling equipment within station limits.

    It said they should be checked and it should be ensured they have “double locking arrangements.”

    The board said that “all relay rooms in stations should be checked and ensured for the proper working of ‘double locking arrangement’.”

    “It should also be checked and ensured that there is data logging and generation of SMS alert for opening/closing of the door of these relay rooms,” it said.

    “During safety drive these items should be checked at 100 per cent of the above locations, further these items should be super-checked by officers for 10 per cent of the above locations,” it said.

    WATCH | Odisha train crash: Tribals turned first responders, saved 200 people

    The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) on Monday recorded the statements of injured engine driver Gunanidhi Mohanty and his assistant Hajari Behera, who are undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, officials said. Both were rescued from the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and are currently stable.

    “Both drivers are stable. While Mohanty was taken out of the ICU on Monday, Behera is awaiting head surgery,” South Eastern Railway (SER) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Aditya Choudhury told PTI.

    The Odisha government said it will bear the transportation cost for ferrying the bodies of the accident victims to different states.

    Chief Secretary PK Jena said 170 bodies out of 275 have so far been identified in Balasore and Bhubaneswar. He added that death certificates will be provided at the earliest and will be sent electronically or through speed post to the families of the deceased.

    The state government has announced two toll-free numbers — 1800345 0061/1929 — to help those looking for their missing relatives.

    The National Disaster Response Force on Monday ended its rescue operation with the withdrawal of all its nine teams, 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.

    READ MORE: 

    Odisha train crash: Tribals turned first responders, saved 200

    Odisha train crash: Even ticketless travellers will receive compensation 

    Five Nightmarish seconds; survivors recall the tragic train accident

    BALASORE/NEW DELHI: The CBI is all set to take over the investigation into the Balasore train crash, while train movement resumed on the crucial route connecting eastern and southern India with the first semi-high-speed Vande Bharat train passing through the area Monday morning.

    The Government Railway Police (GRP) has registered a case under various sections of the IPC and Railway Act including those related to causing death by negligence in connection with the Friday accident.

    The Congress and other opposition parties questioned the need to hand over the case to the CBI but officials stressed that findings of a preliminary probe like “deliberate interference” in the system necessitated the investigation by a professional agency.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The railways has also launched a safety drive with a slew of directions to all zonal headquarters on the security of station relay rooms and compounds housing signalling equipment, including “double locking arrangements” after an initial probe showed “signalling interference” as a suspected reason behind the Odisha triple-train accident.

    In accordance with the procedure, the CBI will take over the Balasore GRP case number 64 registered by Odisha Police on June 3, official sources said, adding it is likely to be allotted to Special Crime Unit at the Delhi Headquarters.

    The case was registered under various IPC sections like 37 and 38 (related to causing hurt and endangering lives through rash or negligent action), 304A (causing death by negligence) and 34 (common intention), and sections 153 (unlawful and negligent action endangering lives of Railway passengers ), 154 and 175 (endangering lives) of the Railways Act.

    ALSO READ | ‘I am haunted by it’: Survivors of Odisha triple train crash recount trauma

    Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had announced on Sunday evening that a CBI probe had been recommended into the three-train crash.

    The crash on Friday involving two passenger trains and a goods train killed 275 people and injured more than 1,100, while the movement of goods and passenger trains on the busy route was also disrupted.

    Around 51 hours after the triple train crash and barely five hours after the damaged tracks were restored, train movement resumed late Sunday night with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who has been camping at the site to oversee restoration work, and other senior officials present at the site.

    A coal-laden goods train from Vizag port to Rourkela Steel Plant was the first to run on the route around 10.40 pm on Sunday night. Vaishnaw waved to the train drivers.

    The first high-speed passenger train – Howrah-Puri Vande Bharat Express – passed through Balasore on Monday morning, with wreckage from the accident still lying near the tracks and workers cleaning the site. The train slowed down to a crawl as it passed by the site of Friday night’s train crash near Bahanga Bazar station.

    The Howrah-Puri Express and Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Sampark Kranti Express also passed the route.

    ALSO READ | Odisha train crash ‘entirely due to human error’, say railway sources

    Railway officials had earlier indicated that possible “sabotage” and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the accident involving the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train.

    Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the CBI cannot fix accountability for technical, institutional and political failures Kharge also said “all the empty safety claims” of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw have now been “exposed” and the government must bring to light the real reasons that caused this grave accident, which he described as one of the worst in Indian history.

    In his four-page letter to Modi, the Congress chief said there is serious concern among the common passengers about the deterioration in safety of railways “The CBI, or any other law enforcement agency, cannot fix accountability for technical, institutional and political failures. In addition, they lack the technical expertise in railway safety, signalling, and maintenance practices,” the Congress chief said.

    Rejecting a CBI probe, Odisha units of 12 political parties, including Congress and Left parties, demanded the formation of a Special Investigation Team and the resignation of Vaishnaw to pave the way for an impartial inquiry.

    The parties, including Congress, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) Liberation, CPI(ML) Red Star, All India Forward Bloc, Samajwadi Party, RJD, NCP, RPI, AAP and Samata Kranti Dal.

    These parties held a joint meeting and passed a resolution stating that they rejected a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), accusing the central agency of “working at the behest of the BJP.”

    Reacting to questions on the need for a CBI probe when the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) was already probing the incident, an official indicated that the preliminary inquiry revealed the need for a more thorough investigation.

    “Lot of information has come during the course of the investigation. Various kinds of information have been made available which required a professional investigative agency,” he said.

    ALSO READ | Odisha train crash: How did the derailment happen?

    The accident in which a speeding Coromandel Express crashed into a stationary goods train on the loop line instead of travelling on the main line indicated issues with the electronic interlocking system which changed the route of the train and led to the collision.

    “Unless there is deliberate interference in the system, it is impossible that a route set for the main line is switched to the loop line,” he said.

    Meanwhile, in a letter to general managers of all zones, the Railway Board has directed that a safety drive should be launched immediately with a special focus on all ‘goomties’ (rooms along tracks) housing signalling equipment within station limits.

    It said they should be checked and it should be ensured they have “double locking arrangements.”

    The board said that “all relay rooms in stations should be checked and ensured for the proper working of ‘double locking arrangement’.”

    “It should also be checked and ensured that there is data logging and generation of SMS alert for opening/closing of the door of these relay rooms,” it said.

    “During safety drive these items should be checked at 100 per cent of the above locations, further these items should be super-checked by officers for 10 per cent of the above locations,” it said.

    WATCH | Odisha train crash: Tribals turned first responders, saved 200 people

    The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) on Monday recorded the statements of injured engine driver Gunanidhi Mohanty and his assistant Hajari Behera, who are undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar, officials said. Both were rescued from the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and are currently stable.

    “Both drivers are stable. While Mohanty was taken out of the ICU on Monday, Behera is awaiting head surgery,” South Eastern Railway (SER) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Aditya Choudhury told PTI.

    The Odisha government said it will bear the transportation cost for ferrying the bodies of the accident victims to different states.

    Chief Secretary PK Jena said 170 bodies out of 275 have so far been identified in Balasore and Bhubaneswar. He added that death certificates will be provided at the earliest and will be sent electronically or through speed post to the families of the deceased.

    The state government has announced two toll-free numbers — 1800345 0061/1929 — to help those looking for their missing relatives.

    The National Disaster Response Force on Monday ended its rescue operation with the withdrawal of all its nine teams, 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.

    READ MORE: 

    Odisha train crash: Tribals turned first responders, saved 200

    Odisha train crash: Even ticketless travellers will receive compensation 

    Five Nightmarish seconds; survivors recall the tragic train accident

  • Odisha train crash: Mamata raises question over CBI probe into fatal accident

    Express News Service

    KOLKATA: Slamming the Centre over its decision to recommend a CBI investigation into the fatal triple train crash in Balasore, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said it is not the time to suppress the truth.

    Stepping up her attack on the central government for involving the central agency in the mishap, Mamata said, “We want people to know the truth. It is not the time to suppress the truth.”

    She also cited the examples of CBI probe into railway mishaps during her stint as the railway minister and said the central agency’s investigation resulted in no result.

    “When I was the railway minister, I also gave Gyaneshwari Express case to the CBI but no result came. We see no result even after 12 years. The CBI deals with criminal cases. The Railway Safety Commission is there to investigate accident cases,” she said.

    Mamata announced more government help apart from the ex-gratia compensation she had announced earlier. The West Bengal CM announced state government jobs for the next of kin of those who lost their lives and relatives of those who lost their limbs in the triple train crash in Odisha’s Balasore.

    “Some of the accident victims lost their hands and legs. For such people, our government has decided that we will give the job of special home guard to one of their family members,” she said.

    Mamata also announced that she would revisit Cuttack and Bhubaneswar on Tuesday saying she cancelled her Darjeeling visit to monitor the mishap situation.

    “I will meet the injured from Bengal who are lodged in hospitals in Odisha,” she said.

    Sharing a letter written by a railway official three months ago on his social media platform, TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale alleged railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw ignored warnings from railway officials about problems in the track interlocking and signalling system.

    “New shocking fact on how Rail Minister QAshwiniVaishnaw’s criminal negligence caused Odisha train crash: In Feb ’23 (3 months ago), a rail official flagged SERIOUS concerns on track & signalling safety after a major crash was narrowly prevented. His letter was ignored,” Gokhale tweeted sharing a letter purportedly written by the principal chief operational manager, south western railway addressing senior railway officials. 

    New shocking fact on how Rail Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw’s criminal negligence caused Odisha train crash:In Feb ’23 (3 months ago), a rail official flagged SERIOUS concerns on track & signaling safety after a major crash was narrowly preventedHis letter was ignored(1/9)
    — Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) June 5, 2023

    KOLKATA: Slamming the Centre over its decision to recommend a CBI investigation into the fatal triple train crash in Balasore, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said it is not the time to suppress the truth.

    Stepping up her attack on the central government for involving the central agency in the mishap, Mamata said, “We want people to know the truth. It is not the time to suppress the truth.”

    She also cited the examples of CBI probe into railway mishaps during her stint as the railway minister and said the central agency’s investigation resulted in no result.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “When I was the railway minister, I also gave Gyaneshwari Express case to the CBI but no result came. We see no result even after 12 years. The CBI deals with criminal cases. The Railway Safety Commission is there to investigate accident cases,” she said.

    Mamata announced more government help apart from the ex-gratia compensation she had announced earlier. The West Bengal CM announced state government jobs for the next of kin of those who lost their lives and relatives of those who lost their limbs in the triple train crash in Odisha’s Balasore.

    “Some of the accident victims lost their hands and legs. For such people, our government has decided that we will give the job of special home guard to one of their family members,” she said.

    Mamata also announced that she would revisit Cuttack and Bhubaneswar on Tuesday saying she cancelled her Darjeeling visit to monitor the mishap situation.

    “I will meet the injured from Bengal who are lodged in hospitals in Odisha,” she said.

    Sharing a letter written by a railway official three months ago on his social media platform, TMC spokesperson Saket Gokhale alleged railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw ignored warnings from railway officials about problems in the track interlocking and signalling system.

    “New shocking fact on how Rail Minister QAshwiniVaishnaw’s criminal negligence caused Odisha train crash: In Feb ’23 (3 months ago), a rail official flagged SERIOUS concerns on track & signalling safety after a major crash was narrowly prevented. His letter was ignored,” Gokhale tweeted sharing a letter purportedly written by the principal chief operational manager, south western railway addressing senior railway officials. 

    New shocking fact on how Rail Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw’s criminal negligence caused Odisha train crash:
    In Feb ’23 (3 months ago), a rail official flagged SERIOUS concerns on track & signaling safety after a major crash was narrowly prevented
    His letter was ignored
    (1/9)
    — Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) June 5, 2023

  • Odisha train crash; Bengal family loses three sons and all breadwinners

    Express News Service

    KOLKATA:  The accident in Balasore has not only snatched away Subhadra Gayen’s three sons but also dried up the income of the 12-member family in Basanti, South 24-Parganas of West Bengal.

    The three brothers, Haran (47), Nishikanta (45) and Dibakar (41) were going to Andhra Pradesh to work as migrant labourers. They had promised Subhadra that they would come back after two months with their hard-earned money to take care of their children’s education and a better life for the family members.“Now, I and my daughters-in-law and their children do not know what we will do. I find no way out other than begging, which will be difficult to feed 12 of us,” said Subhadra.

    Basanti, a part of the Bay of Bengal’s Sunderbans region, is inhabited by migrant workers because of a lack of jobs in remote areas. The three left their village on Friday along with their two other neighbours Bikash Halder (24) and Sanjay Halder (28) to board the Coromandel Express from Shalimar station in Howrah.

    “We heard about the train accident on Friday night when a neighbour, who has a TV in his house, came to our house after watching the news. I started praying for the safety of my sons and spent sleepless night,” Subhadra said.

    “Next morning, the news of the death of Bikash and Sanjay came. I was counting the moments with a ray of hope that there would be good news for me. But my hope shattered when the local police came and informed me that my three sons were found dead in the mangled compartment in which they were travelling. Everything in front of me collapsed,” recounted Subhadra in her 70s, with tears rolling down her face.

    Anjita, Haran’s wife, was speechless and fainted several times since then. Nishikanta’s wife Rekha continued lamenting hugging her two children. “Dibakar’s wife Brihaspati said she was against her husband’s decision of going to Andhra Pradesh. I told him that I would also join him and work as daily labouer in our area.

    But he said getting a job of a daily labourer in our area is difficult. I even told him that we would start begging, but he did not listen to me. He left for Andhra with two brothers to earn money for our children’s education,” she said. According to state government officials, a total of 12 people lost their lives and 110 were injured from South 24-Paraganas.

    Haran, Nishikanta and Dibakar from Basanti, a part of Bay of Bengal’s Sunderbans region, were going to Andhra Pradesh to work as migrant labourers and promised their father they would come back after two months with money to take care of their children’s education and family members. A large number of migrant workers venture out to other states due to lack jobs in remote areas. 

    KOLKATA:  The accident in Balasore has not only snatched away Subhadra Gayen’s three sons but also dried up the income of the 12-member family in Basanti, South 24-Parganas of West Bengal.

    The three brothers, Haran (47), Nishikanta (45) and Dibakar (41) were going to Andhra Pradesh to work as migrant labourers. They had promised Subhadra that they would come back after two months with their hard-earned money to take care of their children’s education and a better life for the family members.
    “Now, I and my daughters-in-law and their children do not know what we will do. I find no way out other than begging, which will be difficult to feed 12 of us,” said Subhadra.

    Basanti, a part of the Bay of Bengal’s Sunderbans region, is inhabited by migrant workers because of a lack of jobs in remote areas. The three left their village on Friday along with their two other neighbours Bikash Halder (24) and Sanjay Halder (28) to board the Coromandel Express from Shalimar station in Howrah.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “We heard about the train accident on Friday night when a neighbour, who has a TV in his house, came to our house after watching the news. I started praying for the safety of my sons and spent sleepless night,” Subhadra said.

    “Next morning, the news of the death of Bikash and Sanjay came. I was counting the moments with a ray of hope that there would be good news for me. But my hope shattered when the local police came and informed me that my three sons were found dead in the mangled compartment in which they were travelling. Everything in front of me collapsed,” recounted Subhadra in her 70s, with tears rolling down her face.

    Anjita, Haran’s wife, was speechless and fainted several times since then. Nishikanta’s wife Rekha continued lamenting hugging her two children. “Dibakar’s wife Brihaspati said she was against her husband’s decision of going to Andhra Pradesh. I told him that I would also join him and work as daily labouer in our area.

    But he said getting a job of a daily labourer in our area is difficult. I even told him that we would start begging, but he did not listen to me. He left for Andhra with two brothers to earn money for our children’s education,” she said. According to state government officials, a total of 12 people lost their lives and 110 were injured from South 24-Paraganas.

    Haran, Nishikanta and Dibakar from Basanti, a part of Bay of Bengal’s Sunderbans region, were going to Andhra Pradesh to work as migrant labourers and promised their father they would come back after two months with money to take care of their children’s education and family members. A large number of migrant workers venture out to other states due to lack jobs in remote areas.
     

  • Odisha train crash: Railways seeks CBI probe, hints at sabotage; many bodies remain unidentified

    By PTI

    BALASORE/NEW DELHI: The railways on Sunday sought a CBI inquiry into the Balasore train crash, hours after minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the “root cause” of the accident and the people behind the “criminal” act have been identified.

    Railway officials also indicated that possible “sabotage” and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the Friday accident.

    However, several opposition parties stepped up pressure for Railway Minister Vaishnaw’s resignation, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge calling for fixing accountability from top to bottom.

    The BJP hit back, saying the track record of the Congress-led UPA government’s railway ministers was nothing short of a disaster and they should not politicise the issue. “We have recommended a CBI probe into the triple train accident,” Vaishnaw told reporters in Bhubaneswar on Sunday evening.

    Earlier in the day, he said the cause of the accident was related to an electric point machine and electronic interlocking. “The setting of the point machine was changed. How and why it was done will be revealed in the probe report.”

    “The root cause of the horrifying incident has been identified…I do not want to go into details. Let the report come out. I will just say that the root cause and the people responsible for the criminal act have been identified,” he said.

    The death toll in the three-train crash on Friday was revised to 275 from 288 by the Odisha government which said some bodies were counted twice earlier.

    With 187 bodies yet to be identified, keeping them till the time they are claimed by the victims’ kin is proving to be a challenge to the local administration.

    While 110 bodies were being kept at the AIIMS Bhubaneswar, the remaining have been sent to Capital Hospital, Amri Hospital, Sum Hospital and some other private facilities. Anxious relatives thronged the NOCCI Business Park to identify photos of passengers displayed by authorities.

    ALSO READ | Odisha train crash: Even ticketless travellers will receive compensation 

    Vaishnaw, who had been camping at the train accident site along with Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, said two railway tracks have been restored on the main trunk line connecting eastern and southern India and overhead electrification work has also started. 

    The accident disrupted passenger and goods traffic between important industrial centres. The railways said 123 trains have been cancelled, 56 diverted, 10 short terminated, and 14 trains have been rescheduled for the period June 3-7.

    Officials said till the overhead electric cable is repaired, only diesel locomotives can be run and it may take another three days before electric trains can ply. The ministers said restoration work was being carried out on a war footing and efforts were on to send people affected back home.

    “By Tuesday we should be able to do it,” Pradhan said.

    In 51 hours after the Odisha train accident, restoration was done on the affected rail lines and the first freight train movement started on the affected section in the presence of the railway minister @AshwiniVaishnaw now.@NewIndianXpress@TheMornStandard pic.twitter.com/umxIcswJEN
    — Rajesh Kumar Thakur (@hajipurrajesh) June 4, 2023
    Many patients — initially admitted to Balasore and other local hospitals — have been released or shifted to bigger cities with multi-speciality hospitals including Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. A large chunk of the passengers on both passenger trains were migrant workers.

    Railway spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said that even if the victims were ticketless travellers, they will receive compensation. This is in line with a Supreme Court order, officials said.

    So far, the railways has disbursed Rs 3.22 crore as ex-gratia in 285 cases — 11 deaths, 50 grievous injuries and 224 minor injuries.

    ALSO READ | Odisha train crash: How did the derailment happen?

    ‘Could be tampering or sabotage from within or outside’

    Top railway officials, while explaining how the point machine and the interlocking system function, said the system is “error proof” and “fail safe” but did not rule out the possibility of outside intervention.

    “It is called a fail-safe system, so it means that even if it fails, all the signals will turn red and all train operations will stop. Now, as the minister said there was a problem with the signalling system. It could be that someone has done some digging without seeing the cables. Running of any machine is prone to failures,” Jaya Verma Sinha, Member of Operation and Business Development, Railway Board, said.

    An electric point machine is a vital device for railway signalling for quick operation and locking of point switches and plays an important role in the safe running of trains. Failure of these machines severely affects train movement and deficiencies at the time of installation can result in unsafe conditions.

    Railway officials virtually ruled out driver error and system malfunction and said there was “no question of over-speeding” by trains.

    A senior railway official who did not want to be identified said, “It could be a case of tampering or sabotage from within or from outside. We have not ruled anything out.”

    The crash involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express 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.

    ALSO READ | Fatigued, staggered triple crash survivors from Tamil Nadu recount trauma

    Why was CAG report ignored: Opposition parties

    The Congress demanded the resignation of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw over the Odisha rail tragedy and attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil and AICC’s publicity and media department head Pawan Khera alleged that it was a “man-made devastation caused by utter negligence, serious lapses in the system, incompetence, and a narcissistic sense of know-it-all attitude of the Modi government.”

    The Opposition party also said that Modi should accept part of the responsibility for the “mess” that it alleged that his government has inflicted on the Indian Railways and the people.

    “Unequivocally and unambiguously, we demand the resignation of the Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Nothing short of it,” Khera said.

    In a series of tweets in Hindi, Kharge posed questions to the Modi government and alleged that “PR gimmicks” have made the working system of the dispensation “hollow”.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee in its 323rd report criticised the Railways for the “disregard” shown by the Railway Board towards the recommendations of the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS), Kharge said.

    “According to Comptroller and Auditor General, 79 per cent of funding was reduced in Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) when Rs 20,000 crore was to be made available every year. Why has there been a huge decline in the amount of track renewal works?” the Congress chief said.

    Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too called for the resignation of Vaishnaw.

    The NCP also asked why the measures suggested in the 2022 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report to prevent train disasters were not implemented by the Centre.

    The party also alleged that the CAG report stated that train accidents were waiting to happen due to several shortcomings, but the railway ministry and the minister failed to take this warning seriously.

    Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto asked if Vaishnaw had read the CAG report. ‘If he did, then why was it not taken seriously and why were the suggestions of the CAG not put into implementation immediately?” he sought to know.

    “Is this not enough reason for Ashwini Vaishnaw to tender his resignation,” Crasto asked.

    The TMC, CPI and RJD have also demanded the railway minister’s resignation.

    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioned the death figures. “If from one state (West Bengal), 182 are missing and 61 are confirmed dead, then where would the figures stand?” she asked, addressing a press conference at the state secretariat, Nabanna.

    Stating that Duronto Express trains introduced during her tenure as the railway minister were “pushed out of priority”, the TMC chief asked whether the engines of Vande Bharat Express trains introduced by the Modi government were up to the mark.

    ALSO READ | Five Nightmarish seconds; survivor recall the tragic train accident 

    Many bodies remain unidentified 

    The Odisha government on Sunday revised the accident death toll to 275 from 288 and put the number of injured at 1,175.

    Chief Secretary P K Jena told newspersons some bodies were counted twice. “After detailed verification and a report by Balasore District Collector, the final toll has been fixed at 275,” he said.

    Jena said 88 bodies have been identified so far and 78 handed over to their families.

    He added that the injured are being treated in different hospitals in Soro, Balasore, Bhadrak and Cuttack. “So far, 793 passengers have been discharged and 382 are being treated at government cost.”

    A team of doctors and experts from the AIIMS-Delhi and other central hospitals in the national capital have been rushed to Bhubaneswar through a special IAF flight. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is also in Odisha.

    “It is a real challenge for us to preserve the bodies here as we have a facility to keep a maximum of 40 bodies,” an official of AIIMS Bhubaneswar told PTI, adding that additional arrangements were made at the Anatomy department.

    Admitting that identification was a major challenge for the administration as the victims hailed from different states, the chief secretary said the state government has uploaded the details of the passengers on three websites of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA).

    Lists and photographs of deceased passengers are also uploaded on the websites to facilitate identification.

    With better clarity finally emerging, here is the sequence of events that led to one of India’s worst rail accidents in #Odisha.#OdishaTrainAccident #OdishaTrainTragedy pic.twitter.com/0F4alfpDUH
    — The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) June 4, 2023
    States trying to trace passengers 

    Of the 127 people hailing from Tamil Nadu who had reserved tickets for Coromandel Express, contact could not be established with eight people and the rest were safe, the state government said According to information received so far on the train accident, no person from Tamil Nadu was killed or injured warranting treatment, it said.

    Exhausted and traumatised, 137 survivors arrived in Chennai on Sunday by a special train from Bhadrak.

    Recalling the ordeal, Murugan said he and others could feel their coach tilting rapidly and falling on one side and many people were injured severely. “It was pitch dark, cries of people could be heard, and many lay dead.”

    The Andhra Pradesh government has identified that 695 passengers from the state were on the two trains but 28 passengers were untraced, Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana said.

    The minister said one passenger from the state – Gurumurthy, hailing from Sonthabommali village in Srikakulam district – died in the accident.

    However, 22 passengers were injured, one with a severe head injury, and efforts are on to trace 28 passengers who could not be contacted, he said.

    ALSO READ | Odisha train crash: Love poems found scattered on tracks 

    US says it mourns alongside the people of India 

    As messages of condolences and support continued to pour in from across the world, US President Joe Biden said he is heartbroken by the tragic news of the train crash in India.

    “(First Lady Dr) Jill (Biden) and I are heartbroken by the tragic news of the deadly train crash in India. Our prayers go out to those who have lost loved ones and the many who suffered injuries in this terrible incident,” he said in a statement.

    “The United States and India share deep bonds rooted in the ties of family and culture that unite our two nations and people all across America mourn alongside the people of India. As the recovery effort continues, we will hold the people of India in our thoughts,” Biden said.

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke to his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, who is currently on a visit to Namibia. “Thank @SecBlinken for the phone call expressing his support and sympathy on the Odisha railway accident. Such sentiments are deeply valued at this difficult time,” the external affairs minister tweeted.

    BALASORE/NEW DELHI: The railways on Sunday sought a CBI inquiry into the Balasore train crash, hours after minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the “root cause” of the accident and the people behind the “criminal” act have been identified.

    Railway officials also indicated that possible “sabotage” and tampering with the electronic interlocking system, which detects the presence of trains, led to the Friday accident.

    However, several opposition parties stepped up pressure for Railway Minister Vaishnaw’s resignation, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge calling for fixing accountability from top to bottom.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2′); });

    The BJP hit back, saying the track record of the Congress-led UPA government’s railway ministers was nothing short of a disaster and they should not politicise the issue. “We have recommended a CBI probe into the triple train accident,” Vaishnaw told reporters in Bhubaneswar on Sunday evening.

    Earlier in the day, he said the cause of the accident was related to an electric point machine and electronic interlocking. “The setting of the point machine was changed. How and why it was done will be revealed in the probe report.”

    “The root cause of the horrifying incident has been identified…I do not want to go into details. Let the report come out. I will just say that the root cause and the people responsible for the criminal act have been identified,” he said.

    The death toll in the three-train crash on Friday was revised to 275 from 288 by the Odisha government which said some bodies were counted twice earlier.

    With 187 bodies yet to be identified, keeping them till the time they are claimed by the victims’ kin is proving to be a challenge to the local administration.

    While 110 bodies were being kept at the AIIMS Bhubaneswar, the remaining have been sent to Capital Hospital, Amri Hospital, Sum Hospital and some other private facilities. Anxious relatives thronged the NOCCI Business Park to identify photos of passengers displayed by authorities.

    ALSO READ | Odisha train crash: Even ticketless travellers will receive compensation 

    Vaishnaw, who had been camping at the train accident site along with Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, said two railway tracks have been restored on the main trunk line connecting eastern and southern India and overhead electrification work has also started. 

    The accident disrupted passenger and goods traffic between important industrial centres. The railways said 123 trains have been cancelled, 56 diverted, 10 short terminated, and 14 trains have been rescheduled for the period June 3-7.

    Officials said till the overhead electric cable is repaired, only diesel locomotives can be run and it may take another three days before electric trains can ply. The ministers said restoration work was being carried out on a war footing and efforts were on to send people affected back home.

    “By Tuesday we should be able to do it,” Pradhan said.

    In 51 hours after the Odisha train accident, restoration was done on the affected rail lines and the first freight train movement started on the affected section in the presence of the railway minister @AshwiniVaishnaw now.@NewIndianXpress@TheMornStandard pic.twitter.com/umxIcswJEN
    — Rajesh Kumar Thakur (@hajipurrajesh) June 4, 2023
    Many patients — initially admitted to Balasore and other local hospitals — have been released or shifted to bigger cities with multi-speciality hospitals including Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. A large chunk of the passengers on both passenger trains were migrant workers.

    Railway spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said that even if the victims were ticketless travellers, they will receive compensation. This is in line with a Supreme Court order, officials said.

    So far, the railways has disbursed Rs 3.22 crore as ex-gratia in 285 cases — 11 deaths, 50 grievous injuries and 224 minor injuries.

    ALSO READ | Odisha train crash: How did the derailment happen?

    ‘Could be tampering or sabotage from within or outside’

    Top railway officials, while explaining how the point machine and the interlocking system function, said the system is “error proof” and “fail safe” but did not rule out the possibility of outside intervention.

    “It is called a fail-safe system, so it means that even if it fails, all the signals will turn red and all train operations will stop. Now, as the minister said there was a problem with the signalling system. It could be that someone has done some digging without seeing the cables. Running of any machine is prone to failures,” Jaya Verma Sinha, Member of Operation and Business Development, Railway Board, said.

    An electric point machine is a vital device for railway signalling for quick operation and locking of point switches and plays an important role in the safe running of trains. Failure of these machines severely affects train movement and deficiencies at the time of installation can result in unsafe conditions.

    Railway officials virtually ruled out driver error and system malfunction and said there was “no question of over-speeding” by trains.

    A senior railway official who did not want to be identified said, “It could be a case of tampering or sabotage from within or from outside. We have not ruled anything out.”

    The crash involving Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express 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.

    ALSO READ | Fatigued, staggered triple crash survivors from Tamil Nadu recount trauma

    Why was CAG report ignored: Opposition parties

    The Congress demanded the resignation of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw over the Odisha rail tragedy and attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil and AICC’s publicity and media department head Pawan Khera alleged that it was a “man-made devastation caused by utter negligence, serious lapses in the system, incompetence, and a narcissistic sense of know-it-all attitude of the Modi government.”

    The Opposition party also said that Modi should accept part of the responsibility for the “mess” that it alleged that his government has inflicted on the Indian Railways and the people.

    “Unequivocally and unambiguously, we demand the resignation of the Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Nothing short of it,” Khera said.

    In a series of tweets in Hindi, Kharge posed questions to the Modi government and alleged that “PR gimmicks” have made the working system of the dispensation “hollow”.

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee in its 323rd report criticised the Railways for the “disregard” shown by the Railway Board towards the recommendations of the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS), Kharge said.

    “According to Comptroller and Auditor General, 79 per cent of funding was reduced in Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) when Rs 20,000 crore was to be made available every year. Why has there been a huge decline in the amount of track renewal works?” the Congress chief said.

    Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too called for the resignation of Vaishnaw.

    The NCP also asked why the measures suggested in the 2022 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report to prevent train disasters were not implemented by the Centre.

    The party also alleged that the CAG report stated that train accidents were waiting to happen due to several shortcomings, but the railway ministry and the minister failed to take this warning seriously.

    Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto asked if Vaishnaw had read the CAG report. ‘If he did, then why was it not taken seriously and why were the suggestions of the CAG not put into implementation immediately?” he sought to know.

    “Is this not enough reason for Ashwini Vaishnaw to tender his resignation,” Crasto asked.

    The TMC, CPI and RJD have also demanded the railway minister’s resignation.

    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioned the death figures. “If from one state (West Bengal), 182 are missing and 61 are confirmed dead, then where would the figures stand?” she asked, addressing a press conference at the state secretariat, Nabanna.

    Stating that Duronto Express trains introduced during her tenure as the railway minister were “pushed out of priority”, the TMC chief asked whether the engines of Vande Bharat Express trains introduced by the Modi government were up to the mark.

    ALSO READ | Five Nightmarish seconds; survivor recall the tragic train accident 

    Many bodies remain unidentified 

    The Odisha government on Sunday revised the accident death toll to 275 from 288 and put the number of injured at 1,175.

    Chief Secretary P K Jena told newspersons some bodies were counted twice. “After detailed verification and a report by Balasore District Collector, the final toll has been fixed at 275,” he said.

    Jena said 88 bodies have been identified so far and 78 handed over to their families.

    He added that the injured are being treated in different hospitals in Soro, Balasore, Bhadrak and Cuttack. “So far, 793 passengers have been discharged and 382 are being treated at government cost.”

    A team of doctors and experts from the AIIMS-Delhi and other central hospitals in the national capital have been rushed to Bhubaneswar through a special IAF flight. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is also in Odisha.

    “It is a real challenge for us to preserve the bodies here as we have a facility to keep a maximum of 40 bodies,” an official of AIIMS Bhubaneswar told PTI, adding that additional arrangements were made at the Anatomy department.

    Admitting that identification was a major challenge for the administration as the victims hailed from different states, the chief secretary said the state government has uploaded the details of the passengers on three websites of the Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA).

    Lists and photographs of deceased passengers are also uploaded on the websites to facilitate identification.

    With better clarity finally emerging, here is the sequence of events that led to one of India’s worst rail accidents in #Odisha.#OdishaTrainAccident #OdishaTrainTragedy pic.twitter.com/0F4alfpDUH
    — The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) June 4, 2023
    States trying to trace passengers 

    Of the 127 people hailing from Tamil Nadu who had reserved tickets for Coromandel Express, contact could not be established with eight people and the rest were safe, the state government said According to information received so far on the train accident, no person from Tamil Nadu was killed or injured warranting treatment, it said.

    Exhausted and traumatised, 137 survivors arrived in Chennai on Sunday by a special train from Bhadrak.

    Recalling the ordeal, Murugan said he and others could feel their coach tilting rapidly and falling on one side and many people were injured severely. “It was pitch dark, cries of people could be heard, and many lay dead.”

    The Andhra Pradesh government has identified that 695 passengers from the state were on the two trains but 28 passengers were untraced, Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana said.

    The minister said one passenger from the state – Gurumurthy, hailing from Sonthabommali village in Srikakulam district – died in the accident.

    However, 22 passengers were injured, one with a severe head injury, and efforts are on to trace 28 passengers who could not be contacted, he said.

    ALSO READ | Odisha train crash: Love poems found scattered on tracks 

    US says it mourns alongside the people of India 

    As messages of condolences and support continued to pour in from across the world, US President Joe Biden said he is heartbroken by the tragic news of the train crash in India.

    “(First Lady Dr) Jill (Biden) and I are heartbroken by the tragic news of the deadly train crash in India. Our prayers go out to those who have lost loved ones and the many who suffered injuries in this terrible incident,” he said in a statement.

    “The United States and India share deep bonds rooted in the ties of family and culture that unite our two nations and people all across America mourn alongside the people of India. As the recovery effort continues, we will hold the people of India in our thoughts,” Biden said.

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke to his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar, who is currently on a visit to Namibia. “Thank @SecBlinken for the phone call expressing his support and sympathy on the Odisha railway accident. Such sentiments are deeply valued at this difficult time,” the external affairs minister tweeted.

  • Odisha train crash: Union Health Minister reviews arrangments for treatment of injured passengers

    By Express News Service

    BHUBANESWAR: In its pursuit to meet the critical healthcare need of the survivors of the tragic train accident at Bahanaga in Balasore district on Friday, the Centre has mobilised doctors and critical medical equipment from New Delhi to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

    Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has been assigned the job by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that injured passengers of the two ill-fated trains, Coromandel Express and Bengaluru-Howrah Yesvantpur Superfast Express, undergoing treatment in different hospitals of Odisha are provided with the best of the treatment, and to take stock of the situations in AIIMS, Bhubaneswar and SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack.

    “More than 1,000 people are injured in this terrible accident and their treatment is underway. Over 100 patients need critical care and some of them need immediate operations. Expert doctors from AIIMS, Delhi, Lady Hardinge Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital along with modern equipment and medicines have reached here in a special Airforce plane for their treatment. We had a detailed discussion and a working plan has also been prepared,” Mandaviya told media persons after visiting AIIMS hospital here.

    Death toll in #OdishaTrainTragedy scaled down to 275 after verification.Passengers injured 1175Passengers undergoing treatment 382@XpressOdisha @NewIndianXpress@Siba_TNIE @santwana99 pic.twitter.com/HZb2ZYvCC7
    — Hemant Kumar Rout (@TheHemantRout) June 4, 2023
    “As many critical patients are being admitted to different hospitals of Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, it has been planned to mobilise members of the expert team of doctors to different hospitals as per the requirements to provide special treatment so that the lives of as many patients could be saved”, he added.

    After visiting AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, the Union Health Miniter went to Capital Hospital and talked to the hospital staff and patients undergoing treatment there. He is scheduled to visit SCB MCH, Cuttack to review the situation there, official sources said.

    The Prime Minister during his visit to the accident spot at Bahanaga on Saturday talked to Mandaviya and reportedly asked him to send a team of doctors with critical equipment and medicines for augmenting treatment of patients struggling for survival. During his visit to the state, the PM also assured of providing the best medical care to save the lives of the injured.

    BHUBANESWAR: In its pursuit to meet the critical healthcare need of the survivors of the tragic train accident at Bahanaga in Balasore district on Friday, the Centre has mobilised doctors and critical medical equipment from New Delhi to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

    Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has been assigned the job by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that injured passengers of the two ill-fated trains, Coromandel Express and Bengaluru-Howrah Yesvantpur Superfast Express, undergoing treatment in different hospitals of Odisha are provided with the best of the treatment, and to take stock of the situations in AIIMS, Bhubaneswar and SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack.

    “More than 1,000 people are injured in this terrible accident and their treatment is underway. Over 100 patients need critical care and some of them need immediate operations. Expert doctors from AIIMS, Delhi, Lady Hardinge Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital along with modern equipment and medicines have reached here in a special Airforce plane for their treatment. We had a detailed discussion and a working plan has also been prepared,” Mandaviya told media persons after visiting AIIMS hospital here.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Death toll in #OdishaTrainTragedy scaled down to 275 after verification.
    Passengers injured 1175
    Passengers undergoing treatment 382@XpressOdisha @NewIndianXpress@Siba_TNIE @santwana99 pic.twitter.com/HZb2ZYvCC7
    — Hemant Kumar Rout (@TheHemantRout) June 4, 2023
    “As many critical patients are being admitted to different hospitals of Balasore, Bhadrak, Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, it has been planned to mobilise members of the expert team of doctors to different hospitals as per the requirements to provide special treatment so that the lives of as many patients could be saved”, he added.

    After visiting AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, the Union Health Miniter went to Capital Hospital and talked to the hospital staff and patients undergoing treatment there. He is scheduled to visit SCB MCH, Cuttack to review the situation there, official sources said.

    The Prime Minister during his visit to the accident spot at Bahanaga on Saturday talked to Mandaviya and reportedly asked him to send a team of doctors with critical equipment and medicines for augmenting treatment of patients struggling for survival. During his visit to the state, the PM also assured of providing the best medical care to save the lives of the injured.

  • Odisha train crash: Passenger on Coromandel Express narrates sequence of events

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Anubhav Das, a passenger on the Coromandel Express that was involved in a horrific triple train crash on Friday, has posted an eyewitness account of the tragedy on Twitter.

    In a series of tweets, Das has described how the accident unfolded.

    “As a passenger on the Coromandel Express from Howrah to Chennai, I am extremely thankful to have escaped unscathed. It probably is the biggest train accident-related incident.”

    “Three trains were involved in the accident — Coromandel Express 12841, Yesvantpur-Howrah SF and a goods train. Initial impressions are that the Coromandel Express derailed and collided with the goods train (parked on the loop track on the side),” he said.

    Das said subsequently, the derailed coaches were hit by the oncoming Yesvantpur Express on a nearby track.

    In one of the tweets, he said: “3 general coaches of Yesvantpur Express are completely damaged and derailed. Almost 13 coaches of Coromandel Express including general, sleeper, AC 3 tier and AC 2 tier are completely damaged.”

    Not to exaggerate but I have witnessed more than 200-250 deaths. Families were crushed, limbless bodies and a bloodbath on the train tracks. It was a sight that I will never forget. God help the families. My condolences.”

    At least 238 people have been killed and more than 900 injured in the train crash, according to officials.

    NEW DELHI: Anubhav Das, a passenger on the Coromandel Express that was involved in a horrific triple train crash on Friday, has posted an eyewitness account of the tragedy on Twitter.

    In a series of tweets, Das has described how the accident unfolded.

    “As a passenger on the Coromandel Express from Howrah to Chennai, I am extremely thankful to have escaped unscathed. It probably is the biggest train accident-related incident.”googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “Three trains were involved in the accident — Coromandel Express 12841, Yesvantpur-Howrah SF and a goods train. Initial impressions are that the Coromandel Express derailed and collided with the goods train (parked on the loop track on the side),” he said.

    Das said subsequently, the derailed coaches were hit by the oncoming Yesvantpur Express on a nearby track.

    In one of the tweets, he said: “3 general coaches of Yesvantpur Express are completely damaged and derailed. Almost 13 coaches of Coromandel Express including general, sleeper, AC 3 tier and AC 2 tier are completely damaged.”

    Not to exaggerate but I have witnessed more than 200-250 deaths. Families were crushed, limbless bodies and a bloodbath on the train tracks. It was a sight that I will never forget. God help the families. My condolences.”

    At least 238 people have been killed and more than 900 injured in the train crash, according to officials.

  • 233 killed, around 900 injured in Odisha triple train crash

    By Express News Service

    BALASORE: In one of the worst railway disasters in India, at least 233 people were killed and more than 900 injured when three trains collided one after another in a horrific sequence in Odisha’s Balasore district, setting off a massive rescue and evacuation process, officials said on Saturday.

    “Death toll rises to 233 in the Balasore Train Accident,” Odisha Chief Secretary PK Jena tweeted.

    The train crash happened near the Bahanaga Baazar station in Balasore district, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar, around 7 pm on Friday, prompting the Railway Ministry to order a probe.

    The inquiry into the train accident will be led by A M Chowdhary, Commissioner Railway Safety, South East Circle, the Indian Railways said in a statement. The Commissioner Railway Safety comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

    Several coaches of the 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, on the way to Howrah, derailed and fell on adjacent tracks, an official said.

    Bodies recovered from passenger trains lay on the track at the site of an accident, in Balasore district, in Orissa, Saturday, June 3, 2023.  (Photo | AP)

    “These derailed coaches collided with the 12841 Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and its coaches capsized too,” he said.

    A goods train was also involved in the accident as some of the coaches of the Coromandel Express, which was heading to Chennai, hit its wagons after getting derailed, he added.

    Gas cutters were used to extricate the bodies from under the derailed coaches. “Some of the scenes at the site were too gory to describe,” said a passenger.

    Railway tracks were almost destroyed at the spot as mangled coaches lay strewn all over, with some having mounted on another, while a few coaches turned turtle due to the impact.

    Pijush Poddar, a resident of Berhampore in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, was travelling to Tamil Nadu in the Coromandel Express to join work there when the accident happened.

    “We were jolted and suddenly saw the train bogie turn on one side. Many of us were thrown out of the compartment by the momentum of the derailment. When we managed to crawl out, we found bodies lying all around,” he said.

    Officials in Bhubaneswar said 115 ambulances, 50 buses and 45 mobile health units were working at the accident site, besides 1,200 personnel. The bodies were being taken to the hospitals in all kinds of vehicles, including tractors.

    Locals said they heard consecutive loud sounds, following which they rushed to the spot and found the derailed coaches, which were nothing but “a mangled heap of steel”.

    Rescuers work at the site of passenger trains accident, in Balasore district, in Orissa, Saturday, June 3, 2023. (Photo | AP)

    “The local people really went out on a limb to help us… They not only helped in pulling out people but retrieved our luggage and got us water,” Rupam Banerjee, one of the passengers, told reporters.

    Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik declared one-day state mourning on Saturday in the wake of the deadly triple train crash.

    State Special Relief Commissioner Satyabrata Sahoo said those injured in the accident were undergoing treatment in different hospitals.

    All government and private hospitals have been put on alert in the nearby districts, including the AIIMS at Bhubaneswar.

    Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was on the way to the spot, said the Air Force was also called in for assisting the rescue operations.

    “Rushing to the site in Odisha. My prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured and condolences to the bereaved families. Rescue teams mobilised from Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. NDRF, State govt. teams and Airforce also mobilised. Will take all hands required for the rescue ops,” he tweeted.

    More than 2,000 people gathered at the Balasore Medical College and Hospital in the night to help the injured, and many also donated blood.

    Chief Secretary Jena thanked the volunteers who donated blood to the accident victims in their hour of need.

    “Five hundred units of blood collected overnight here at Balasore. Nine hundred units in stock at present. This will help in treating the accident victims. I’m personally indebted & grateful to all the volunteers who’ve donated blood for a noble cause,” Jena tweeted.

    The railways announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased, Rs 2 lakh for those grievously injured and Rs 50,000 for those who got minor injuries.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi too expressed his distress over the accident, and announced an additional ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured from the PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).

    “Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Spoke to Railway Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw and took stock of the situation. Rescue ops are underway at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected,” he tweeted.

    The Odisha government issued helpline 06782-262286. The railway helplines are 033-26382217 (Howrah), 8972073925 (Kharagpur), 8249591559 (Balasore) and 044- 25330952 (Chennai).

    Expressing concern over the accident, in which a large number of people from West Bengal were involved, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was monitoring the situation along with the chief secretary and other officials.

    West Bengal Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi said the state was sending a team led by minister Manas Bhunia and MP Dola Sen to the spot.

    So far, 18 long-distance trains have been cancelled due to the accident, which happened on the Howrah-Chennai main line in the Kharagpur division of the South Eastern Railway.

    BALASORE: In one of the worst railway disasters in India, at least 233 people were killed and more than 900 injured when three trains collided one after another in a horrific sequence in Odisha’s Balasore district, setting off a massive rescue and evacuation process, officials said on Saturday.

    “Death toll rises to 233 in the Balasore Train Accident,” Odisha Chief Secretary PK Jena tweeted.

    The train crash happened near the Bahanaga Baazar station in Balasore district, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar, around 7 pm on Friday, prompting the Railway Ministry to order a probe.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    The inquiry into the train accident will be led by A M Chowdhary, Commissioner Railway Safety, South East Circle, the Indian Railways said in a statement. The Commissioner Railway Safety comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

    Several coaches of the 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, on the way to Howrah, derailed and fell on adjacent tracks, an official said.

    Bodies recovered from passenger trains lay on the track at the site of an accident, in Balasore district, in Orissa, Saturday, June 3, 2023.  (Photo | AP)

    “These derailed coaches collided with the 12841 Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and its coaches capsized too,” he said.

    A goods train was also involved in the accident as some of the coaches of the Coromandel Express, which was heading to Chennai, hit its wagons after getting derailed, he added.

    Gas cutters were used to extricate the bodies from under the derailed coaches. “Some of the scenes at the site were too gory to describe,” said a passenger.

    Railway tracks were almost destroyed at the spot as mangled coaches lay strewn all over, with some having mounted on another, while a few coaches turned turtle due to the impact.

    Pijush Poddar, a resident of Berhampore in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, was travelling to Tamil Nadu in the Coromandel Express to join work there when the accident happened.

    “We were jolted and suddenly saw the train bogie turn on one side. Many of us were thrown out of the compartment by the momentum of the derailment. When we managed to crawl out, we found bodies lying all around,” he said.

    Officials in Bhubaneswar said 115 ambulances, 50 buses and 45 mobile health units were working at the accident site, besides 1,200 personnel. The bodies were being taken to the hospitals in all kinds of vehicles, including tractors.

    Locals said they heard consecutive loud sounds, following which they rushed to the spot and found the derailed coaches, which were nothing but “a mangled heap of steel”.

    Rescuers work at the site of passenger trains accident, in Balasore district, in Orissa, Saturday, June 3, 2023. (Photo | AP)

    “The local people really went out on a limb to help us… They not only helped in pulling out people but retrieved our luggage and got us water,” Rupam Banerjee, one of the passengers, told reporters.

    Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik declared one-day state mourning on Saturday in the wake of the deadly triple train crash.

    State Special Relief Commissioner Satyabrata Sahoo said those injured in the accident were undergoing treatment in different hospitals.

    All government and private hospitals have been put on alert in the nearby districts, including the AIIMS at Bhubaneswar.

    Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who was on the way to the spot, said the Air Force was also called in for assisting the rescue operations.

    “Rushing to the site in Odisha. My prayers for the speedy recovery of the injured and condolences to the bereaved families. Rescue teams mobilised from Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. NDRF, State govt. teams and Airforce also mobilised. Will take all hands required for the rescue ops,” he tweeted.

    More than 2,000 people gathered at the Balasore Medical College and Hospital in the night to help the injured, and many also donated blood.

    Chief Secretary Jena thanked the volunteers who donated blood to the accident victims in their hour of need.

    “Five hundred units of blood collected overnight here at Balasore. Nine hundred units in stock at present. This will help in treating the accident victims. I’m personally indebted & grateful to all the volunteers who’ve donated blood for a noble cause,” Jena tweeted.

    The railways announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased, Rs 2 lakh for those grievously injured and Rs 50,000 for those who got minor injuries.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi too expressed his distress over the accident, and announced an additional ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured from the PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).

    “Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Spoke to Railway Minister @AshwiniVaishnaw and took stock of the situation. Rescue ops are underway at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected,” he tweeted.

    The Odisha government issued helpline 06782-262286. The railway helplines are 033-26382217 (Howrah), 8972073925 (Kharagpur), 8249591559 (Balasore) and 044- 25330952 (Chennai).

    Expressing concern over the accident, in which a large number of people from West Bengal were involved, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was monitoring the situation along with the chief secretary and other officials.

    West Bengal Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi said the state was sending a team led by minister Manas Bhunia and MP Dola Sen to the spot.

    So far, 18 long-distance trains have been cancelled due to the accident, which happened on the Howrah-Chennai main line in the Kharagpur division of the South Eastern Railway.