NEW DELHI—Over 275 people lost their lives and over 1,000 more were injured in Balasore in Odisha, on the East coast of India, on June 2 In a tragic three-way accident between two passenger trains and a goods train.
The state government said death figures were at 275 while the BBC and some Indian media reported it at 288.
India’s Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Asian News Networks (ANI) that the accident happened due to a “change in electronic interlocking” which actually prevents signals from being changed in an improper sequence.
“Whoever did it and how it happened will be found out after proper investigation,” said Vaishnaw.
The officer leading the overall rescue operations, Director General of Fire and Emergency Services Sudhanshu Sarangi in Odisha, told The Epoch Times that the accident happened away from urban centers, almost in the wilderness at a place called Bahanaga and at 7:11 p.m. local time on Friday, and reinforcements were urgently sought from his department by the local fire station.
“We could mobilize some 370 people and we could get some 53 light towers installed around the train and we started rescue operations by 10 [p.m.]. Our team along with the locals evacuated nearly 800 people,” said Sarangi.
The rescue workers included 250 firemen and 120 policemen working in pitch darkness. After lights were installed, the rescue workers had to use 12 hydraulic cutters to cut open the doors of the fallen trains.
“So this process continued and by 2:30 a.m. we knew that we were no longer looking at survivors,” said Sarangi, adding that by Saturday night the task was to unclip all the compartments and to retrieve any dead bodies.
Sarangi, who’s also the commandant general of homeguard and the director of Civil Defence in the state, described it as a “kind of disaster which is far in excess’' because it was unlike a motor accident or a bus accident. The magnitude of the accident was massive as it involved two long-distance passenger trains that were full to their maximum capacity.
“The requirement is suddenly so huge, that too in the night time–that was the biggest challenge, reaching the place, making sure that people and material and technology reach there,” said Sarangi.
The officer emphasized that the coastal state Odisha has been impacted by disasters like super cyclones earlier and had developed a modern state-of-the-art disaster preparedness system, which helped in quick response and avoided more casualties.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the accident site and the hospital to meet those injured on Saturday. His office said in a press release that since the accident involved inter-state, long-distance trains–people from wider Indian territory are impacted by what he described as a “monumental tragedy.”
U.S. President Joe Biden also expressed shock and grief at the tragedy.
“Our prayers go to those who have lost loved ones and the many who suffered injuries in the terrible incident,” said Biden in a White House statement.
“The United States and India share deep bonds rooted in the ties of family and culture that reunite our two nations–and people all across America moun alongside the people of India. As the recovery effort continues, we will hold the people of India in our thoughts,” said Biden.
While 400 people are still in hospitals under treatment, a bus carrying rescued passengers from the crash site met with another accident in the neighboring state of Medinipur, West Bengal, 85 miles away from the first crash site, injuring a few.
