At least 120 people have been killed and more than 850 injured in a train disaster involving three trains, including two passenger trains, in eastern India.
Images broadcast by television stations show torn compartments, heaps of twisted metal and bloodstains as well as dozens of passengers lying next to the tracks at the scene of the tragedy, near Balasore, around 200 kilometers from Bhubaneswar, the state capital of Odisha.
Amitabh Sharma, the director of Indian Railways, told AFP that the two passenger trains were “actively involved in the accident”.
The third train, a freight convoy, which was parked at the site where the tragedy occurred, was also (involved) in the accident,” he added without providing further details.
“At the last count, we have more than 120 dead and this figure is increasing because there are many serious injuries, head injuries,” Sudhanshu Sarangi, director general of firefighting services, told AFP. of Odisha State. “A very sad event and the outlook is not good,” he added.
A high representative of the regional government, Pradeep Jena, for his part, told AFP that “about 850 people had been admitted to hospitals”.
Many passengers could also have been trapped under the metal carcasses of wagons and officials fear that the number of dead is higher.
A survivor told reporters he was asleep when the disaster struck and awoke to find himself under a dozen other passengers, before crawling out of his compartment with only neck and chest injuries. arm.
“We have dispatched doctors and medical personnel to the scene of the accident,” Dr. Anil Kumar Mohanty, who works in Balasore, told AFP.
“We expect relief operations to continue at least until tomorrow morning. On our side, we have prepared all the major public and private hospitals, from the accident site to the state capital, in order to take care of the injured, “said SK Panda, a spokesman for the authorities. regional.
He added that “75 ambulances” and “numerous coaches” had already been sent to the scene to transport both injured passengers and survivors.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his part said he was “distressed”.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw meanwhile announced that he was going to the scene of the disaster, assuring that the “air force” was also “mobilized”.
India has experienced several other rail disasters in the past but safety on the rails has improved significantly in recent years thanks to massive new investments and technological upgrades.
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.
Friday’s disaster is the worst to occur on rails in India since a train rammed into worshipers gathered for a Hindu festival in the northern state of Punjab on October 19, 2018. Result: around sixty dead and 90 injured. The crowd was on the train tracks to watch a pyrotechnic show.
Another particularly deadly recent accident: on November 20, 2016, the Patna-Indore express train, on board which were 2,000 people, derailed very early in the morning in a rural area of the state of Uttar Pradesh (north), at a time when most of its passengers were sleeping. 146 dead and nearly 180 injured were then recorded.
The 14 wagons were off the track near the town of Kanpur.
This tragedy in the railways had been the deadliest since the collision between a train and a convoy of goods in West Bengal (east) in 2010 which had left the same number of dead and more than 200 injured.
Since the beginning of the century, thirteen railway accidents, including at least three caused by attacks (notably that of Bombay in 2006), have each caused more than 50 deaths.