At least 288 people were killed and more than 850 injured in a horrific three-train collision in India, officials said Saturday, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years.
Images from the crash site showed smashed train compartments torn open with blood-stained holes near Balasore, in the eastern state of Odisha.
Carriages had flipped over entirely in the crash late on Friday and rescue workers searched for survivors trapped in the mangled wreckage, with scores of bodies laid out under white sheets beside the tracks.
As dawn broke on Saturday, rescue workers were able to see the full extent of the carnage.
Sudhanshu Sarangi, director general of Odisha Fire Services, said that the death toll stood at 288.
“The rescue work is still going on,” he told AFP from the accident site, adding there were “a lot of serious injuries”.
India is no stranger to railway accidents and has seen several disasters, the worst of them in 1981, when a train derailed while crossing a bridge in Bihar and plunged into the river below, killing between 800 and 1,000 people.
But Friday’s crash is believed to be the worst since the 1990s.
Odisha state’s chief secretary Pradeep Jena confirmed that about 850 injured people had been sent to hospitals following the crash, which took place around 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the state capital Bhubaneswar.
“Our top priority now is rescuing (the passengers) and providing health support to the injured,” he said.
– AFP
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent a message of commiseration to the government and people of the Republic of India over the multiple train crash in the country which killed over 280 passengers.
Tinubu, in a statement by his media aide, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, on Saturday morning, described the train accident as heartrending, while consoling the Indian government and families of the victims.
“My heart goes to the families of those affected in the unfortunate and heartrending train crash in the Indian state of Odisha.
“We stand with India in brotherhood at this difficult time. The magnitude of the crash and the high casualty figure call for global support for India to adequately respond to this calamitous accident.
“I send my deepest sympathy and condolences to His Excellency Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the people of India and the families of those trapped in the crash,” the president was quoted as saying.
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