India train crash: Narendra Modi vows the ‘harshest punishment’ as number of dead rises above 300
At least 300 people have been killed and more than 850 are injured, with warnings that the number of deaths is expected to rise as more bodies are removed from wreckage.
Sunday 4 June 2023 08:07, UK
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi says those responsible for the deadly train crash in India will receive the “harshest punishment”.
More than 300 people were killed and 900 injured in Friday’s accident in Odisha’s Balasore district, with the number of dead having risen after 15 bodies were recovered on Saturday night.
On his visit to the crash site earlier in the day, Mr Modi pledged to look after the families of those killed and injured.
He said: “This is a very big, painful and disturbing incident.
“Those family members who have been injured, the government will leave no effort for their well-being.”
Cordy Lynch at India train crash2:27
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Sky’s Cordelia Lynch reports from the train crash site
The Indian leader said the government “is with the families in their hour of grief”, and said “all types of enquiries” had been ordered to determine the cause of the accident.
“The guilty should get the harshest punishment – they will not be spared,” he warned.
A preliminary report has indicated that a signal failure caused a passenger train to come off the tracks and hit another passenger train.
A drone shot of rescuers work at the site of passenger trains accident, in Balasore district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Saturday, June 3, 2023. Pic: AP
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Pic: AP
Pic: AP
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Pic: AP
A freight train was also involved in the incident, which happened at around 7pm local time on Friday.
K S Anand, chief public relations officer of the South Eastern Railway, said: “The Coromandel Express was supposed to travel on the main line, but a signal was given for the loop line instead, and the train rammed into a goods train already parked over there.
“Its coaches then fell onto the tracks on either side, also derailing the Howrah Superfast Express.”
EYEWITNESS: HOSPITAL RESEMBLES A WAR ZONE IN TOWN ON FRONT LINE OF OVERWHELMING TRAGEDY
Cordelia Lynch
Cordelia Lynch
Asia correspondent
@CordeliaSkyNews
At Balasore General Hospital, room after room is full of the injured – many on the floor and in corridors.
Some described it as like a war zone in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. Doctors were overwhelmed by an unending stream of patients, many with serious injuries.
One of the volunteers who rushed here to help described blood all over the floors as the hospital tried to cope with the high number of casualties.
This is a small town in a poor part of West Bengal that was suddenly on the front line of the worst train crash this century.
I met 24-year-old Gura, his legs, arms and head heavily bandaged. He was among the many in the wards in shock and a great deal of pain.
He described the sudden moment he felt a huge jolting pressure as two trains collided.
“We were standing near the doors,” he said. “The two carriages crushed us. We were four of us. And I felt throttled as I was thrown out of the carriage and got out. I got hurt on my head, arms and legs. It pains.”
Some from this hospital have been taken four hours away for more specialist treatment. But so many didn’t make it out alive. Their families are now trying to make the journey here, to collect their bodies, travelling many hours – most by train.
Narendra Modi also visited Balasore hospital. He was due to be launching new high-speed trains yesterday. Instead, he was visiting a scene with an exceptionally high death toll, even for a country with a long line of deadly crashes.
The cause of this one is yet to be established, but the early indications are suggesting a possible signalling fault.
Sudhanshu Sarangi, director of Odisha state’s fire and emergency department, has said there are no more survivors among the wreckage, adding: “This is very, very tragic – I have never seen anything like this in my career.”
Hundreds of those severely injured are in hospital and there are still some bodies to be recovered from the debris, so the death toll is likely to rise.
A local school was being used as a makeshift morgue and police were helping people identify dead relatives, whose bodies were covered with white cloths and placed inside chained bags.
Mr Modi at the crash site on Saturday. Pic: Government of India0:45
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Prime Minister Modi visits crash site
Mr Modi talked to rescue workers and inspected the wreckage on Saturday. He also met survivors.
“Words can’t capture my deep sorrow,” he said.
“We stand committed to providing all possible assistance to those affected.”
Read more:
How safe is India’s rail network?
INDIA’S WORST TRAIN DISASTERS
June 1981: India’s most deadly train disaster happened in Bihar state, near the Nepalese border. At least 800 people died after seven coaches of an overcrowded passenger train blew off the track and into a river during a cyclone.
July 1988: In Quilon, southern India, 106 people died when an express train derailed and fell into a monsoon-heavy lake.
August 1995: At least 350 people were killed when two trains collided 125 miles from Delhi.
August 1999: Two trains crashed near Calcutta, killing 285 people.
October 2005: In Andhra Pradesh state, at least 77 people died when several coaches of a passenger train derailed.
July 2011: In Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, a mail train derailed, killing 70 people and injuring more than 300.
November 2016: An express train derailed in Uttar Pradesh, killing 146 people and injuring more than 200.
January 2017: In Andhra Pradesh, 41 people died when several coaches of a passenger train left the track.
October 2018: At least 59 people died in Amritsar city, northern India when a commuter train crashed into a crowd gathered on the track for a festival. Fifty-seven people were injured.
Families of the dead will receive one million rupees (£9,700), while the seriously injured will get 200,000 rupees (£1,950), with 50,000 rupees (£485) for minor injuries, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
Some state governments have also announced compensation.
Opposition Congress party leader Jairam Ramesh said the accident proved that safety should be prioritised on the rail network.
Mr Modi’s government launched high-speed trains to modernise the network, but critics say there needs to be more focus on safety and maintenance of the ageing infrastructure.
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