PM Modi visits Odisha train accident site, to meet injured passengers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Odisha on Saturday where three trains were involved in a deadly crash on Friday evening. 

At the site of the mishap, PM Modi reviewed relief works that are underway. He interacted with local authorities, personnel from the disaster relief forces and railways officials. He emphasised on ‘Whole of Government’ approach to mitigate this monumental tragedy. 

PM Modi spoke to Cabinet Secretary and Health Minister from the site. He asked them to ensure all needed help is provided to the injured and their families. He also said that special care must be taken to ensure that the bereaved families don’t face inconvenience and that those affected keep getting the assistance they require.

Enormous cranes and bulldozers have been deployed to lift a buried coach, crushed by the weight of another wagon, even as rescue workers utilize gas torches and electric cutters to look for survivors and retrieve the injured from the twisted wreckage of three derailed trains. 

The horrific sequence of events that unfolded in Odisha's Balasore district on Friday evening resulted in the tragic loss of at least 238 lives and left over 900 individuals injured, according to officials and witnesses.

In response to the accident, authorities in Bhubaneswar mobilized 200 ambulances, 50 buses, and 45 mobile health units, along with 1,200 personnel, at the accident site. The bodies of the victims were transported to hospitals using various vehicles, including tractors.

The train collision occurred near the Bahanaga Baazar station in Balasore district, approximately 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar, at around 7 pm on Friday. It is now considered the fourth deadliest train accident in India based on available records. 

The 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, en route to Howrah, experienced derailment, causing some of its coaches to fall onto adjacent tracks. "These derailed coaches collided with the 12841 Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, resulting in the capsizing of its coaches as well," an official explained. Additionally, a goods train was involved in the incident, as some of the coaches of the Coromandel Express, bound for Chennai, collided with its wagons after derailing.

Gas cutters were employed to recover the bodies from beneath the derailed coaches. Disaster management personnel and firefighters tirelessly worked to extract the bodies as daylight broke over this small railway station on the east coast. The accident site, when viewed from a nearby hill, resembled the aftermath of a powerful whirlwind, with train coaches haphazardly stacked on top of each other.

Closer to the ground, a scene of mangled steel and bloodied, disfigured bodies presented a grotesque sight, leaving witnesses overwhelmed. Some of the scenes were too disturbing to put into words, as shared by a passenger.

The railway tracks at the site suffered extensive damage, with derailed coaches scattered in disarray, some stacked upon others, and several turned upside down due to the impact.

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