- Friday, April 26, 2024
A speeding passenger train rammed into some derailed coaches of another and hit another freight train running on the adjacent tracks, leaving a huge pile-up.
By: Shubham Ghosh
Rescue personnel had a tough time while hunting for lives from underneath mangled coaches of the two trains that were involved in a horrific accident in Balasore in the eastern Indian state of Odisha on Friday (2). A speeding passenger train rammed into some derailed coaches of another and hit another freight train running on the adjacent tracks, leaving a huge pile-up. One of the locomotives was seen sitting atop a wagon of the goods train.
Nearly 300 people died in the accident while around 1,000 were injured, as per reports.
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Rescue officials used gas and electric cutters and torches and worked through the night to pull out survivors from inside the coaches, some of which were mangled beyond recognition. Army personnel also joined in and the air force also deployed Mi-17 helicopters for relief and rescue operations. Sniffer dogs were also brought to detect signs of survivors amid the ruins.
Among the rescue officials were those from the National Disaster Response Force, Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, fire units and local police. Doctors and medical officials were also swiftly deployed from hospitals in Odisha and the neighbouring state of West Bengal to and from which the two ill-fated passenger trains were operating.
Huge cranes and bulldozers were also pressed into action to remove the mangled coaches, some of which got buried under others due to a heavy impact. Railway tracks and electricity poles were also damaged and the Indian Railways said it would take some time to clear the site.
Survivors recalled their horrific experience and said severed limbs and disfigured bodies were found strewn everywhere. People also queued up at the local hospital where the injured were receiving treatment to donate blood for them. The local district hospital turned into a war zone with injured people lying on corridors and its rooms nearing their accommodating capacity with extra beds.
Several trains on the affected route were cancelled even as top leaders, including prime minister Narendra Modi, chief ministers of the states of Odisha and West Bengal and the railway minister reached the spot.
