Global Courant
BALASORE – At least 50 people have been killed and 300 hospitalized in India after a passenger train derailed and collided with a freight train in the Balasore district of Odisha on Friday, according to media reports.
Rescue operations were underway at the site and “all possible assistance” is being given to those affected, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet on Friday.
The collision is a “serious accident,” HK Dwivedi, the chief secretary of West Bengal, told reporters. South Eastern Railway officials, who declined to be named, said they fear heavy casualties, without disclosing the number of dead.
The Coromandel Express, running from Kolkata to Chennai, derailed and fell onto the other track, leaving many people still trapped, the reports said.
“I cannot comment on the details and number of casualties at this time. I was in Delhi and rushed to the scene of the accident,” Archana Joshi, general manager of South Eastern Railways, told Reuters.
Joshi said a large number of the injured were taken to hospitals. “Railway rescue teams from Kharagpur and other nearby stations have already reached the site. Help and rescue are on the way.” REUTERS
