Global Courant
NEW DELHI – India’s railway minister said on Sunday that the cause and those responsible for the country’s worst rail crash in decades have been identified.
The minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, pointed to an electronic signal system without giving further details.
“We have identified the cause of the accident and the people responsible for it,” Mr Vaishnaw told ANI news agency, but said it was “not appropriate” to give details ahead of a final investigative report.
The death toll from Friday’s crash near Balasore, in the eastern state of Odisha, was expected to rise above 288.
Mr Vaishnaw said the “change that happened during electronic interlock, the accident happened because of it”, a technical term referring to a complex signal system designed to prevent trains from colliding by controlling their movement on the rails.
“Who did it and how it happened will be discovered after a thorough investigation,” he added.
There was confusion about the exact sequence of events.
But according to reports, railway officials said a signal error had sent the Coromandal Express traveling south from Kolkata to Chennai onto a siding.
It collided with a freight train and the wreckage derailed an express train traveling north from Bengaluru, India’s tech hub, to Kolkata, which also passed the site.
Odisha State Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena confirmed that about 900 injured people were hospitalized. AFP
