A tangle of pulverized wagons, rows of bodies extricated by rescuers… Horror reigns this Saturday morning in Balasore, after one of the deadliest rail disasters in Indian history. Friday evening, three trains collided, killing nearly 300 people according to a provisional report. 20 minutes make the point.
What happened ?
According to Amitabh Sharma, the director of Indian Railways, two passenger trains were “actively involved in the accident”. A third train, a freight convoy, was parked at the site where the tragedy occurred, he said without providing details. He was in fact between the two passenger trains, according to information from the Guardian.
The Coromandel Express, which connects Calcutta in West Bengal to Chennai in Tamil Nadu, is said to have collided with this freight train, which in turn derailed and overturned at least two cars of the Howrah Superfast Express, which was traveling in the opposite direction. reverse. With incredible violence, the collision pulverized the cars in the air, whose metal sections were twisted by the impact. At least 10 of the Coromandel’s 23 cars are badly damaged.
What is the balance sheet and where are the relief operations?
The latest report shows at least 288 dead and 850 injured. But the emergency services are still hard at work trying to free survivors. Breaches are opened in the metal walls of the wagons to allow dogs to pass in search of survivors during the incessant parade of ambulances, transporting the wounded to the overcrowded hospital in the district of Bhadrak. Buses have also transported injured people to other nearby hospitals, where volunteers are queuing to donate blood.
“Rescue operations are continuing at the scene, and will not be over for several hours,” said Odisha State Fire Service Chief Executive Sudhanshu Sarangi. “The number of casualties on the ground or injuries is very difficult to assess at the moment,” said Amitabh Sharma, the director of Indian Railways, as many passengers are likely still trapped.
Rail accidents, an Indian disease?
Since the turn of the century, 13 rail accidents, including at least three caused by bombings, have each claimed more than 50 lives in India. Among the most recent, the Patna-Indore express train derailed on the morning of November 20, 2016, at a time when most passengers were asleep, killing 146 people. The deadliest railway accident in this country is that of June 6, 1981 when, in the State of Bihar (East), seven wagons of a train which was crossing a bridge, fell into a river, the Bagmati, making between 800 and 1,000 dead.
Safety on the rails, however, has improved significantly in recent years thanks to massive new investments and technological upgrades. But it takes time to upgrade the entire vast rail network of the world’s most populous country. “My thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover quickly,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, adding that he had spoken with Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to provide “an update on the situation”.