On the night of Friday, June 2, a passenger train from Calcutta (India) derailed and collided with two other trains. The accident, the worst of this nature in two decades in the Asian country, left 261 dead and 900 injured. Authorities announced a day of mourning in the state and compensation of more than $12,000 for the deceased.
Photo: EFE
At least 261 people died and another 900 were injured on Friday night, June 2, in eastern India, after a passenger train derailed and several overturned carriages were hit by another train traveling in the opposite direction, according to reported the Indian news agency PTI, citing official sources.
The accident took place around 7:20 local time (13:50 GMT), in the vicinity of the station in the town of Bahanaga, in the state of Odisha.
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According to a statement from the Ministry of Railways, the accident occurred when a first passenger train covering the route between the cities of Shalimar, in Calcutta, and Chennai, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, derailed, after which a second A train traveling from Yeswanthpur in Bangalore to Howrah in Calcutta collided with it.
A third freight train was also involved in the crash, Odisha Secretary General Pradeep Kumar told Indian television NDTV.
The morning of this Saturday June 3 the Indian authorities have concluded the search work and rescue in Balasore district.
The hundreds of troops from the disaster management forces mobilized thus ending a chaotic operation that lasted throughout the night of Friday until this morning, in the district of Balasore.
Authorities announced a day of mourning in the state and compensation of more than $12,000 for the deceased, about $2,500 for the seriously injured and $606 for those with minor injuries; and the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, announced that he will visit the area of the accident this Saturday.
Accidents in India
This is India’s worst rail accident in more than two decades, after the August 1999 crash of two trains in the northeastern state of West Bengal killed 288 people. Some 800 people died in 1981 when a train derailed while crossing a bridge and plunged into a river in the northern state of Bihar.
The Indian railway network is, with a length of 68,000 kilometers, the fourth in length in the world, behind the United States, Russia and China, it has some 21,650 trains and 7,349 stations throughout the country, and transports some 23 million daily.
With information from EFE
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