Hundreds dead after passenger train derails in India UPDATED

03 June 2023 09:47

At least 288 people are now known to have been killed and 850 injured in a multiple train collision in India's eastern Odisha state, officials say.

It is believed that several carriages from the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed at about 19:00 local time (13:30 GMT), with some of them ending up on the opposite track, BBC reports.

Another train - the Howrah Superfast Express travelling from Yesvantpur to Howrah - is then thought to have hit the overturned carriages.

Indian officials said that a goods train - which was stationary at the site - was also involved in the incident. They provided no further details.

Some surviving passengers were seen rushing in to help rescue those trapped in the wreckage.

Local bus companies were also helping to transport wounded passengers.

India has one of the largest train networks in the world and accidents are common, despite successive governments investing hundreds of millions of dollars to improve the infrastructure, says BBC South Asia regional editor Anbarasan Ethirajan.

India's worst train disaster was in 1981, when an overcrowded passenger train was blown off the tracks and into a river during a cyclone in Bihar state, killing at least 800 people.

21:05 (June 2)

At least 30 people have died and another 179 have been rushed to hospital after a passenger train derailed in India.

The crash took place in Odisha’s Balasore district on Friday, media reports and officials said, Metro reports.

Pradeep Jena, the region’s chief secretary, said: "Nearly 50 ambulances have reported but the injured appear far too many. Large (number) of buses being mobilised to shift injured to hospital."

The Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, derailed and collided with a goods train.

It then fell on the opposite track, local reports state.

Videos circulating on social media show a large number of people climbing from the wreckage of the train.

He wrote: "Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. Spoke to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and took stock of the situation. Rescue ops are underway at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected."

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