The death toll in the tragic train derailment in Odisha’s Balasore district has increased to 280, with at least more than 900 people injured.
On Friday evening, 17 coaches of the Coromandel Express and SMVT-Howrah Super Fast Express derailed, leading to one of the worst railway accidents in the country in the last 15 years. More than 200 ambulances along with 30 buses have been pressed into service, Odisha’s Chief Secretary Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena said.
The Railways have also announced an inquiry by A.M. Chodhary, CRS/SE Circle.
A rescue operation by the NDRF, ODRAF, Odisha Fire Service along with several volunteer organisations kept the search for survivors and bodies trapped in the heap of mangled coaches on throughout the night. A senior Railway Ministry official in Delhi said the exact number of casualties will only be clear once the entire wreckage is sifted through.
He said that the rescue operation is still underway.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday reached the spot of the tragic train derailment. Speaking to reporters at the accident spot, Vaishnaw said: “Our prime focus is on rescue and proper treatment of the injured persons, and dissemination of proper information of the passengers to their relatives.
“Restoration will begin after clearance from district administration. All machinery required for the restoration work have been kept ready at Soro, Balasore.”
The Union Minister also informed that a detailed high-level inquiry will be conducted and the rail safety commissioner will also carry out an independent inquiry into the accident.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has also reached the accident site to review the situation and rescue operation. He has declared one-day state mourning.
“In view of the tragic rail accident at Bahanaga, Hon’ble Chief Minister, Sri Naveen Patnaik has ordered for State Mourning for a day. Hence no State celebration to take place on 3rd June throughout the State,” the Odisha Information and Public Relations Department said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has convened a high-level meeting to review the situation in relation to the rail accident.
Locals rush forward to help
Hundred of local youths lined up in hospitals to donate blood for the injured victims of the devastating train tragedy. As news of the accident that occurred in Friday evening spread, the youths lined up throughout the night at the Balasore district headquarters hospitals in Balasore and Bhadrak to donate blood.
“We (about 25 volunteers) have come here to the Balasore hospital to donate blood voluntarily. If our blood can save someone’s life, no other thing can bring happiness like this,” said a volunteer, who was standing in a queue.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik visited the Balasore hospital and interacted with the injured passengers. He thanked the local people and administration for saving the lives of so many people.
“I am deeply saddened by the extremely tragic train accident. I have to thank the local people and local team who have worked overnight to save people from the wreckage,” Patnaik told media persons.
Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena thanked the youth volunteers for donating blood in such a tragic time.
“500 Units of blood collected overnight here at Balasore. 900 Units in stock at present. This will help in treating the accident victims. I’m personally indebted & grateful to all the volunteers who’ve donated blood for a noble cause,” Jena said in a tweet.
Accident or sabotage?
Bharat has been many attempts at sabotage of railway tracks in recent years, resulting in some disasters and many lucky escapes.
The worst train tragedy to occur before the Balasore derailment on Friday night took place on November 20, 2016, when 147 people died while over 180 were injured after 14 coaches of Patna-Indore Express derailed in Kanpur Dehat district, UP. It was later found that derailment was carried out at the behest of Pakistan’s dreaded spy agency ISI through a Dubai-Nepal-Bihar based module to avenge the 2016 surgical strikes.
The terror module had initially targeted the railway track at Ghorasan near Motihari in Bihar. But that plan failed when villagers detected the pressure cooker bomb placed by them on the tracks. They then decided to target the Indore-Patna Express by removing the fish plates on the tracks in Kanpur Dehat district.
There have been several other near misses when sabotaged tracks were discovered in the nick of time, or disaster averted due to smart work by intelligence agencies. Here are a few such incidents:
1 Oct 2016 – pressure cooker bomb near Motihari, Bihar was detected at the last minute.
31 Dec 2016 – unidentified men damaged railway tracks in Mandhna near Kanpur, UP.
23 Jan 2017 – Stone slabs placed on track in Barauni-Samastipur section, Bihar
25 Jan 2017 – 15 feet rail line placed on track near Diva, Mumbai. Drivers of the 12052 Janshatabdi Express stopped the train just in time
April 2021 – Maoist terrorists blow up rail tracks being used by Oxygen Express trains: Jharkhand
Nov 2022 – Terrorists try to blow up Udaipur-A’dabad railway bridge inaugurated by PM
Knowing the vicious campaign that has been launched by the Opposition and the kind of nasty characters that Rahul Gandhi is keeping company with on his foreign jaunts, netizens have rightly raised the red flag over the Balasore derailment potentially being yet another act of sabotage.
The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and the stakes are very high for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections which are no less than a major civilizational battle.
(With IANS inputs)
A follow up to my previous post, in light of existing evidence. The accident was caused when a train that was supposed to go on main line was instead sent on loop line. The signal said main line, but the track had still been left on loop line. At the time, there was some maintenance work on loop line as well, and most likely the maintenance crew neglected to put the track back on main line.
As of now, it seems this is most likely what has happened.
Sudarshan news had a show on this. No evidence yet, but we demand NIA investigation to get to the bottom of this. It is strange that 4 bogeys of a train will derail on a totally straight piece of track.
Pakistan had already threatened to avenge G20 meet in Srinagar. Is this their “revenge”? Who knows, but let NIA find out what is truth of this tragedy!