3 Tracks, 3 Trains, One Human Error: How Odisha Train Disaster Happened In Mere Minutes
A devastating crash involving three trains in the eastern state of Odisha has killed nearly 300 people and left around 1,100 injured, many of them seriously. Described as one of the deadliest train accidents in decades, the tragedy struck around 7 pm, when many passengers were sleeping.
The incident took place when a passenger train, the Coromandel Shalimar Express, derailed and hit a goods train, and another train, the Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast, crashed into the derailed coaches.?Here's a detailed account of the three trains and what happened.
The three trains
The three trains were: Coromandel Express, which had started just hours before from Shalimar railway station in the state of West Bengal and was headed to the southern city of Chennai.
Howrah Superfast Express, which had started from Yesvantpur station in Bengaluru and was due to reach Howrah.
A stationary goods train, which was standing at the Bahanaga Bazar station.
Here's what happened
There are varying accounts of which train derailed first and how the collision happened. But railway spokesperson Amitabh Sharma said it was the Coromandel Express that derailed first.
"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," Amitabh Sharma, executive director, Indian Railways, told AFP.
The Coromandel Shalimar Express, heading to the South to Chennai, somehow ended up on loop line, hit a parked goods trainand reportedly derailed, following which many coaches flipped over.
While this was happening, moments later, the Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast which was headed towards North then collided with the derailed coaches. This led carriages of the Howrah Superfast Express to derail too. Both trains were moving at a high speed when the collisions took place.? ?
An Odisha government press release said that, in total, 24 coaches of the two passenger trains were derailed and severely damaged.?According to officials and witnesses, the massive tragedy took place in a matter of minutes, between 6.50 pm and 7.10 pm.
Possible cause of the accident
Railways is looking at the possibility of a signalling error as the prima facie cause, sources told The Indian Express on Saturday.
In a multi-disciplinary joint-inspection note by supervisors, it was concluded that a green signal was given to the Coromandel Express to pass through the designated main line, and then the signal was taken off. But the train entered the loop line, rammed into a stationary goods train and derailed.??
Among the deadliest train accidents ever in India
Friday's crash is among the five deadliest accidents in the history of India's railways.
Atul Karwal, chief of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), said the force of the collision had left several coaches crushed and rescuers had to cut through the wreckage to reach the passengers.
Hundreds of ambulances, doctors, nurses and rescue personnel were sent to the scene and worked for 18 hours to rescue passengers and pull out bodies.
India has one of the largest train networks in the world. It runs more than 12,000 passenger trains daily, which are used by tens of millions of passengers to travel across the country - but a lot of the railway infrastructure needs improving.
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