Officials said that a passenger train in eastern India derailed, trapping people inside the derailed coaches. Media reports claim that more than 170 people have been injured and hospitalized.
D.B. Shinde is the Balasore District Administrator in Odisha. Investigating the cause of derailment.
Amitabh Singh, a spokesperson for the railroad ministry, stated that some pieces of the derailed trains fell onto nearby tracks and were then hit by a passenger train traveling in the opposite direction. Details weren’t immediately available.
Press Trust of India reported that the Coromandel Express derailed was travelling from Howrah, in West Bengal State to Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state.
Television images showed rescuers trying to get passengers from the mangled coaches. New Delhi TV news reported that 179 patients were hospitalized.
India has the largest railway network in the world, and despite government efforts to improve safety, there are hundreds of accidents every year.
In November 2016, over 100 people were killed after 14 coaches of a passenger train in northern India rolled off the tracks.
In August 1995, the worst train crash in Indian history occurred when two trains collided in New Delhi. 358 people were killed.
Human error or outdated signaling systems are often blamed for most train accidents.
Every day, more than 12,000,000 people travel across India on 14,000 trains that cover 40,000 miles.
