PARIS, France: The death toll from the horrific three-train rail crash in India rose to 288 early Saturday, according to Indian officials.
AFP recalls some of the biggest rail tragedies of the previous ten years in light of the hundreds of people dead and many others injured in the train crash.
Greek collision
The deadliest rail accident in the country occurred on February 28, 2023, when a goods train traveling between Thessaloniki and Athens crashed head-on with a passenger train, killing 57 people.
Stowaways derailed
Goods train on March 10, 2022, carrying stowaways derailed in the Lualaba province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, leaving at least 75 persons dead and 125 injured. A goods train derailed at the exact location a month later, causing at least eight fatalities.
Pakistan farmlands
In Pakistan’s southern Sindh region, on June 7, 2021, a train racing across farmland crashed and collided with another passenger service, resulting in at least 63 fatalities.
Taiwan tragedy
The island’s biggest rail tragedy in decades occurred on April 2, 2021, when a passenger train collided with a truck that had slid down an embankment in the city of Hualien, resulting in at least 49 fatalities and 200 injuries.
Pakistan pilgrims
On October 31, 2019, a fire broke out on a crowded passenger train bringing pilgrims to a religious gathering close to Lahore, resulting in at least 74 fatalities and more than 40 injuries.
Crowds on tracks
On October 19, 2018, a fast-moving train ploughed into revelers enjoying fireworks at a Hindu festival in northern India, leaving at least 60 people dead.
Indian express disaster
On November 20, 2016, a train traveling from Indore to Patna with about 2,000 people on board derailed in Uttar Pradesh, causing carriages to collide and killing at least 146 people.
Speeding Cameroon train
On October 21, 2016, a train moving from the nation’s capital Yaounde to its commercial center Douala crashed, killing at least 79 people and wounding almost 550 others. Before the incident, it was moving “abnormally” fast speed, according to the crash investigation.
Congo accident
On April 22, 2014, a cargo train carrying many illegal passengers veered off the tracks in a swampy, inaccessible area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, leaving at least 136 people dead. Many had to be laid to rest nearby in mass graves.
Spain derailing
On July 24, 2013, a high-speed train collided with a concrete wall close to the northwest city of Santiago de Compostela, causing roughly 80 fatalities and 140 injuries. The train was nearing a curve at over twice the speed limit. — AFP
