Help desk set up at Yeshwantpur railway station, Minister Santosh Lad to visit Balasore

BENGALURU: A help desk has been set up at the Yeshwanthpur railway station in the city on Saturday to provide assistance to train accident victims in Odisha’s Balasore.

Meanwhile, the helpline set up at the Baiyappanahalli railway station had so far received 40 calls seeking general information and not about the accident.

Railway officials feel that since there were not calls regarding the accident, all passengers from Karnataka may be safe. Though there were reports of deaths of two people from Karnataka, there have been no inquiries in this regard, they said.

Labour Minister Santosh Lad (wearing sunglasses) will visit the train accident site on Saturday.

Labour Minister Santosh Lad told Public TV said so far, there are no reports of anyone from Karnataka stuck at the accident site. “I will be visiting the train accident site today and if necessary, we will make arrangements to airlift anyone from the state in trouble”, he added.

The three-way accident involved Yesvantpur-Howrah superfast express, the Coromandel Express and a goods train on three separate tracks at Bahanaga Bazar Station, Balasore district. Seventeen coaches of these two trains have been derailed and severely damaged.

“As per the information received till now, there are 238 casualties. Around 650 injured passengers have been taken to hospitals of Gopalpur, Khantapara, Balasore, Bhadrak and Soro”, the South Eastern Railway said.

Tamil Nadu Ministers Udhayanidhi Stalin, Siva Shankar, and Anbil Mahesh have also left for Odisha’s Balasore to enquire about the tragic train accident.

While interacting with media at Chennai airport on Saturday morning, Udhayanidhi Stalin said, “We are going there to enquire for details. Tamil Nadu CM has spoken to Odisha CM. I will update you after reaching the spot. Hospital facilities are also ready for Tamilians in Tamil Nadu who got affected by the train accident”. (With Agency inputs)