NEW DELHI: At least 50 persons were killed and 350 injured in a three-way incident at Bahanagar in the Balasore district of Odisha involving the Bengaluru-Howrah superfast express, the Coromandel Express, and a cargo train on three different tracks.
According to The Hindu, the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed at Baleswar at around 7 o’clock and crashed on the opposing track, losing 10 to 12 coaches. After some time, a train from Yeswanthpur to Howrah slammed into those derailed cars, causing its three to four coaches to derrail as well, according to railway spokeswoman Amitabh Sharma.
Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, and M.K. Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, have both expressed their sympathies and sent teams to assist in the continuing rescue operations.
2 Trains Derail In Massive Accident In Odisha, 179 Injured https://t.co/LvxiXtq40T pic.twitter.com/GWiRtQxqVD
— NDTV (@ndtv) June 2, 2023
According to authorities, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has ordered Revenue Minister Pramila Malik and Special Relief Commissioner Satyabrata Sahoo to head straight for the accident scene.
According to local media, the state’s chief secretary said that up to 50 ambulances have been dispatched to the scene in the Balasore area. The incident on Friday night resulted in the derailment of several carriages, he said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the incident upset him and that his sympathies were with the grieving families.
He tweeted, “Rescue operations are under way at the scene of the accident and all possible assistance is being provided to those affected people.”
According to local authorities, the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express was one of the trains involved in the incident.
