Rescuers work at the site of an accident involving two passenger trains and a freight train, in Balasore district, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, on Saturday, June 3, 2023. [AP Photo]
Over 200 people have been killed and at least 1000 injured in a train crash that occurred in Odisha, a state located in the eastern part of India.
BBC reports that a passenger train derailed and was struck by an incoming train on an adjacent rail line.
The broadcaster quoted officials as saying that the incident occurred after several carriages from the Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express derailed in Balasore district of Odisha.
Atul Karwal, chief of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), said the accident was severe because of how fast the incoming train struck the derailed one.
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“The force with which the trains collided has resulted in several coaches being crushed and mangled,” Karwal said.
Hundreds of emergency workers have been searching the wreckage for survivors.
Mukesh Pandit, a survivor of the crash, said: “Four passengers who were travelling from my village have survived, but a lot of people are injured or still missing. A lot of people died in the coach I was travelling in”.
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Pradeep Jena, Odisha’s chief secretary, said more than 200 ambulances and hundreds of doctors, nurses and rescue personnel were sent to the scene.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit the injured.
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