Indian railway accident result of signal failure

Image

ODISHA: At least 288 people were killed on Friday when a passenger train went off the tracks and hit another one near the district of Balasore in the eastern state of Odisha.

Five more bodies were brought to a school being used as a mortuary near the scene of the accident early on Sunday.

“We do not know how many more bodies will come,” a health worker said.

Indian Railways says it transports more than 13 million people every day. But the state-run monopoly has had a patchy safety record because of aging infrastructure.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces an election due next year, visited the scene on Saturday to talk to rescue workers, inspect the wreckage and meet some of the nearly 1,200 injured.

The South Eastern Railway has said a preliminary report indicated that the accident was the result of signal failure.

Workers with heavy machinery were clearing the damaged track, wrecked trains, and electric cables, as distraught relatives looked on.

“We were called by the police and asked to come,” said Baisakhi Dhar from West Bengal state, searching for her husband Nikhil Dhar.

She said her husband’s luggage and mobile had been found but had no information on his whereabouts.

More than 1,000 people are involved in the rescue, the Railway Ministry said on Twitter.

“The target is by Wednesday morning the entire restoration work is complete and tracks should be working,” said Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

At a business centre where bodies are taken for identification, dozens of relatives waited, many weeping and clutching identification cards and pictures of missing loved ones.

Families of the dead will get 1 million rupees ($12,000) in compensation, while the seriously injured will get 200,000 rupees, with 50,000 rupees for minor injuries, Vaishnaw said on Saturday.

You May Also Like

Image

Pakistan Stock Exchange marked 98,000 points

KARACHI: Pakistan Stock Exchange above the 98,000 mark on Friday as share prices surged more than 2,000 points in intraday trade

Image

ICC warrant against Netanyahu political death of Israel: Iran Revolutionary Guards chief

TEHRAN: The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards described the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime

Image

Gun attack on passenger vans in Lower Kurram death toll risen to 42

LOWER KURRAM: The death toll in yesterday’s gun attack on passenger vans in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower Kurram has risen to 42,