Toll in Odisha train tragedy rises to 288, rescue operations complete

The accident happened near the Bahanaga Baazar station in Balasore district, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar

The death toll in the disastrous railway accident in Odisha has risen to 288 and rescue operations at the site have been completed, a South Eastern Railway official said on Saturday.

The railway ministry has declared that total number of casualties now stands at 1091 including deaths, grievous injuries and simple injuries.

An enquiry into the accident will be held by the commissioner of railway safety (CRS), South Eastern circle, the official said.

The train crash, one of the deadliest in the country, took place 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.

Three trains - the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and a goods train were involved in the accident.

Track all the latest updates on the Odisha train tragedy here

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.

While it is not clear what caused the crash, sources indicate a possible signalling failure.

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

"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.

Railway Spokesperson Amitabh Sharma told PTI Video that the Coromandel Express derailed first, and its 10-12 coaches fell on the line on which the Bengaluru-Howrah Express was travelling, forcing it to jump off the tracks.

The differing versions of the accident could not be immediately reconciled.

The opposition while expressing condolences at the deaths which occurred in one of India's worst train dissters, also lashed out at the government.

"Government concentrates only on luxury trains. Trains and tracks of common people are neglected. Orissa deaths are the result of it. Rail minister should resign," CPI MP Binoy Viswam said in a tweet.

Gas cutters were used to extricate the bodies from under the derailed coaches. Disaster management personnel and firemen were busy at work trying to extricate bodies as dawn broke on this tiny way station on the east coast railway line.

From a nearby hill the accident site looked like as if a powerful whirlwind had thrown train coaches on top of each other, in a haphazard "wrathful" manner.

Closer to the ground mangled steel and bloodied and disfigured bodies lay enmeshed with each other creating a grotesque sight.

"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.

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".

"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.

One of the coaches “was pushed into the ground " as another from a neighbouring train collapsed on top of it, passengers said.

Work is on to try and extricate that particular bogie and retrieve the dead in it. "This will push up the deth toll significantly," a state disaster relief officer said.

Balasore district hospital looked like a war zone with the injured lying on stretchers in the corridor and rooms bursting at its seams with extra beds propped up.

Harried medical staff were seen trying to bring succour to patients many of whom are from states other than Odisha and had difficulties in communicating. In all some 526 railway accident victims have been admitted to this one single hospital.

Policemen and locals have been volunteering to donate blood at this and many hospitals through the night, said officials. 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, officials said.

The morgue at the hospital was a pile of white shrouded bodies, many of them yet to be identified as relatives are yet to make their way to the town with many train services cancelled or delayed due to the accident on a major railway trunk route.

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 in the nearby districts, including the AIIMS at Bhubaneswar are being used.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reached the site in the morning as did Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

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.