More Than 200 Dead, 900 Injured in Train Crash in India

At least 233 people were killed and 900 injured after two passenger trains collided in the eastern Indian state of Odisha — the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than a decade, Reuters reported.

The death toll is expected to increase, the state chief secretary, Pradeep Jena, stated in a tweet. Hundreds of rescue workers gathered at the collision site to pull people still trapped underneath the mangled train cars.

At about 7 p.m. local time on Friday, the Howrah Superfast Express derailed and collided with the Coromandel Express, railway officials said. A nearby freight train also became entangled in the pileup, according to the Washington Post.

“Around 7 p.m., 12841 Coromandel Express, which runs between Shalimar and Chennai, around Balasore, 10 to 12 of its coaches derailed and tossed over to the opposite track. After some time, another train, which runs between Yesvantpur and Howrah, dashed into those derailed coaches, which resulted in the derailment of its three to four coaches,” said Railway Spokesperson Amitabh Sharma, per CNN.

More than 200 ambulances and 100 additional doctors were called to the scene in Odisha’s Balasore district, Jena said. A blood drive was also organized, he added. Hundreds of young people lined up to donate blood at a government hospital in the city of Soro in Odisha, reported the Guardian.

“Distressed by the train accident in Odisha,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter. “In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon.”