At least 50 people have died, more than 500 were injured and many are feared trapped in a three-train collision in eastern India’s Odisha state, a top official said Friday.
Images broadcast on local stations showed smashed train compartments torn open with blood-stained holes of twisted metal, and scores of passengers lying beside the tracks near Balasore, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the state capital Bhubaneswar.
“About 50 people have died and over 500 injured. Our top priority now is rescuing (the passengers) and providing health support to the injured,” Odisha state chief secretary Pradeep Jena told.
Amitabh Sharma, executive director with the Indian Railways, told that the two passenger trains “had an active involvement in the accident” while “the third train, a goods train, which was parked at the site, also got (involved) in the accident”.
With rescuers at the crash site pulling the wounded out of the wreckage, fears mounted that the toll could still rise higher, but officials could not give exact figures.
“The casualty figures from the ground or clarity on the number of injured is very difficult to assess for us at this moment,” Sharma said, amid reports that many passengers were still believed to be trapped under mangled rail cars.
Anil Kumar Mohanty, a medical officer in Balasore, told that “we have rushed doctors and medical staff to the accident site”.
One survivor told local TV news reporters that he had sleeping when the accident happened, and woke to find himself trapped under around a dozen fellow passengers, before somehow crawling out from the carriage with only injuries to his neck and arm.
Another TV station showed graphic images of a train car toppled to one side of the track, as local residents tried to pull victims to safety.
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