At least 120 people died and another 800 people were injured this Friday by the collision of a passenger train with another freight train, which in turn caused several wagons to overturn on the opposite track and were hit by another passenger train in the Odisha state in eastern India.
The accident took place at around 7:20 p.m. local time in the vicinity of the station in the town of Bahanaga, in the state of Odisha, where rescue teams continue to work quickly to help the possible injured who are still in the place.
One of the wrecked trains in the state of Odisha, India
Images of the accident show fifteen wagons overturned on the tracks, with several people on them trying to rescue the passengers who have been trapped inside.
According to the Indian Railways spokesman, Amitabh Sharma, the collision between the first two trains involved occurred around 7:00 p.m., after which another passenger train passing at high speed collided with several of the overturned carriages.
Train accidents are common in the country: in 2020 there were 13,018 accidents
Three teams from the National Disaster Response Force, four units from the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force, more than 15 teams of firefighters, 30 doctors, 200 police and 60 ambulances have been mobilized to the site, the secretary general of Odisha, Pradeep Kumar.
Rescue operations will continue through the night despite the darkness, he added.
One of the wagons of the crashed trains in the state of Odisha, India
One of the crashed passenger trains was covering the route between the cities of Shalimar, in Kolkata, and Madras, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, while the other was moving from Yeswanthpur, in Bangalore, to Howrah, in Kolkata, according to reports. the Ministry of Railways on Twitter.
The ministry has canceled more than a dozen trains that covered the injured section and has diverted the route of several.
The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, expressed his anguish over the accident and announced that he is in contact with the Minister of Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw, to take stock of the situation. Train accidents are common in India.
One of the wagons of the crashed trains in the state of Odisha, India
According to the latest report from India’s National Crime Recording Bureau (NCRB), there were 13,018 accidents in 2020, killing 11,986 people and injuring 11,127 others, with collisions being the cause of 70% of accidents.
The Indian railway network is, with a length of 68,000 kilometers, the fourth in length in the world, behind the United States, Russia and China, it has some 21,650 trains and 7,349 stations throughout the country, and transports some 23 million passengers daily. passengers.
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