Odisha Train Accident: Drone Footage Shows Scene From Crash Site

Huge cranes and bulldozers have been brought in to raise a coach which has been buried by the impact of another wagon falling on as rescue workers wield gas torches and electric cutters to pull out survivors and the dead from the mangled steel of three trains that derailed one on top of another in a horrific sequence, killing at least 288 people and injuring more than 900 in Odisha's Balasore district, officials and witnesses said Saturday.

Officials in Bhubaneswar said 200 ambulances, 50 buses and 45 mobile health units were working at the accident site, besides 1,200 personnel. The bodies were being taken to the hospitals in all kinds of vehicles, including tractors.

Aerial footage of the Odisha train accident site, shared by news agency ANI, reveals a scene of devastation. The one-minute clip captures numerous derailed bogies, with some lying on their sides off the track. The railway tracks are severely damaged, and mangled coaches are scattered throughout the area. Amidst the wreckage, a crowd of people can be seen gathered around the bogies, as rescue operations continue.

''Death toll in the Balasore Train Accident has risen to 238,'' Odisha Chief Secretary PK Jena told newspersons at the Odisha state secretariat in Bhubaneshwar Saturday.

The train crash, the fourth deadliest in India according to available records, happened near the Bahanaga Baazar station in Balasore district, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar, around 7 pm on Friday, prompting the Railway Ministry to order a probe.

The inquiry into the train accident will be led by A M Chowdhary, Commissioner Railway Safety, South East Circle, the Indian Railways said in a statement. The Commissioner Railway Safety comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

While it is not clear what caused the crash, sources indicate a possible signalling failure. Several coaches of the 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, on the way to Howrah, derailed and fell on adjacent tracks, an official said.

''These derailed coaches collided with the 12841 Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and its coaches capsized too,'' he said.

A goods train was also involved in the accident as some of the coaches of the Coromandel Express, which was heading to Chennai, hit its wagons after getting derailed, he added.