BENGALURU: Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday demanded the Odisha government to find out the cause behind the train collision that led to the death of more than 280 people.
“In the case of the terrible train accident that took place in the state of Odisha on Friday evenng, the government there should take action and find the cause of the accident. Steps should be taken to prevent another accident. May God give strength to the families of those who died in the accident to bear the pain”, the Deputy Chief Minister said.
The death toll in the June 2 collision in which the 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, on its way to Howrah, derailed and fell on adjacent tracks at Bahanaga Bazar of the South Eastern Railway in Balasore, has crossed 280. The incident took place at 7.10 pm around 140 km from Kharagpur in West Bengal.
The Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express arriving from the opposite direction on a parallel track rammed into the derailed coaches of the Howrah bound train. Some derailed Coromandel Express coaches hit a stationery goods train on the third track.
“As per the information received till now, there are 280 casualties. Around 650 injured passengers have been taken to hospitals in Gopalpur, Khantapara, Balasore, Bhadrak and Soro,” the South Eastern Railway said.
The 12864 Sir M Visvesvaraya (Bengaluru)-Howrah Express Superfast Express travelled towards Howrah with 1,000 passengers. A special train carrying 200 stranded passengers later left Balasore to Howrah.
Earlier, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reached the spot and supervised the rescue operation. NDRF, state government and Air Force teams have been mobilised for rescue operations. (ANI)