PM Modi to visit accident site; CM Siddharamaiah sends Minister Santosh Lad for Kannadigas’ help
New Delhi: At least 288 people (numbers till 12.30 pm today) were killed and around 900 were injured in a horrific three-train collision in Odisha’s Balasore last night, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the train accident site and meet with injured people at hospitals in Cuttack, sources said. Modi chaired a high-level meeting in Delhi this morning to review the situation along with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other Ministers.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddharamaiah has deputed a team led by Minister Santosh Lad to ensure the safety of Kannadigas in the incident. He sought reports from the Chief Secretary and directed the concerned officers to visit the spot to ensure the safety of Kannadigas and provide all necessary support to them.
A team headed by Minister Santosh Lad, accompanied by Manoj Rajan, Commissioner, Disaster Management and other officers has already left for Balasore.
The crash involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, and a goods train. The accident saw one train ram so hard into another that carriages were lifted high into the air, twisting and then smashing off the tracks. Another carriage had been tossed entirely onto its roof, crushing the passenger section.
Human error?
The accident may have been the result of human error since the train took the wrong track minutes before the tragedy, according to initial reports from the signalling control room of the Railways. To be sure, the cause of the accident will only be identified after a thorough examination.
According to a video from the signalling control room of Kharagpur division of the Railways, the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express took a loop line where the goods train was parked just after crossing Bahanagar Bazaar Station at about 6.55 pm on Friday, instead of the main line, according to a senior Railway official
The Coromandel Express, running at about 127 km per hour, collided with the goods train and derailed on the main line, an official from the Railway Ministry said. Within minutes of the collision, the Howrah-bound Yesvantpur Express coming from the opposite side collided with the Coromandel Express.
“How it happened and why it happened, will be found in the detailed inquiry that the Railway Board has ordered. But prima facie it appears to be a human error,” the official said.
A similar accident occurred in 1995 in Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh, where three trains collided. Around 350 persons were killed in that accident and the rescue operations went on for three days.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said a high-level committee will be set up to investigate the train crash. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has declared one-day State mourning in view of the horrific train crash. Vaishnaw has announced compensation of Rs. 10 lakh for those who have died, Rs. 2 lakh for those seriously injured and Rs. 50,000 for those who sustained minor injuries in the accident.
PM Modi too expressed his distress over the accident, and announced a compensation of Rs. 2 lakh for the family of the dead and Rs. 50,000 for the injured from the PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).
Over 48 trains have been cancelled, 39 diverted and 10 trains have been short terminated due to the accident, which happened on the Howrah-Chennai main line in the Kharagpur division of the South Eastern Railway.
Was not a poster called @Indian wrote about highways which should be planned and by professionals with good edcuation and training, ignoring the fact that it is drivers , particularly Indians like him who through wreckless driving cause more accidents?
In India, the railways have been in existence for decades, planned and introduced by the British and since 1947, so many rail tracks, trains and routes have been designed and created, and with all this experience, accidents like this are happening frequently. This is because of human negligence. I mentioned this as a reply. That idiot, would not have it!
Whatever the sophistication of signalling, the human negligence is always the cause.
Hey @Indian, just like the wreckless driving in the highway, there is wreckless signalling clearance, which ensured that three trains-2 express and one goods train smashed into each other. Your tiny brain did not grasp this fact.
You wrote in reply an abusive sentence in Hindi, as you are unable to refute what I observed in English!
Indians are always criminally negligent-whether they are doctors, engineers or simply signal men,as there is an underlying Indian negligence, it appears to be genetically programmed in them.
@Raampur Ka Laxman – it is uneducated goons like you that are creating havoc. You are a rabid neutered stray dog and should be dealt appropriately.
Hey @Indian
Are you better educated with that kind of aggressive mistake-wridden reply?
For examplke this bit : “”should be dealt appropriately” is the sign of poor education, as the right usage there is: “should be dealt WITH appropriately”
That was a silly error of grammar, even a fresh high school student, is not expected to make in a simple English sentence!
What level of education you have? I guess a poor degree achieved by bribing examiners? What work you do? I can guess, looking at your ignorance and the demented brain you have, that you are an IT Techie coolie, writing hundreds of program codes monotonously without exercising your brain cells, which are any way, very few. You are there doing the work of a road digger!
Just look at my analysis, which shows , the better quality and level of education I have.
Finally, a stray dog when neutered DOES NOT BECOME rabid! There, another piece of ignorance.
Since you have used it, it appears that YOU NEED TO BE NEUTERED to suppress your aggressive behaviour.
Your sick-wridden brain should grasp that accidents on highways and in railways occur mostly due to humar error or signal failure, again not properly tested and mainatined signals or traffic lights, indicating human error.
Do not post, unless you get proerly educated and acquire analytical skills, which I guess is beyound your very limited capability. You are just a gruff off the street.