train accident
India train crash kills over 280, injures 900 in country's deadliest rail accident in decades
Rescuers waded through piles of debris and wreckage to pull out bodies and free people on Saturday (June 3, 2023) after two passenger trains derailed in India, killing more than 280 people. Hundreds of others were trapped inside more than a dozen mangled rail cars overnight in one of the country's deadliest train crashes in decades.
The accident, which happened about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Kolkata on Friday (June 2, 2023) night, led to a chaotic scene as rescuers climbed atop the wrecked trains to break open doors and windows using cutting torches to free survivors.
About 900 people were injured in the accident in Balasore district in the eastern state of Odisha, said P.K. Jena, the state's top administrative official. The cause was under investigation.
At least 280 bodies were recovered overnight and into Saturday morning, Sudhanshu Sarangi, director of Odisha's fire department, told The Associated Press. He said more than 800 injured passengers were taken to various hospitals with many in critical condition.
Also Read: India train crash death toll rises above 230 with 900 injured as rescuers comb through debris
Rescuers were cutting through the destroyed rail cars to find people who may still be trapped. Sarangi said it was possible that people were stuck underneath but that it was unlikely they would still be alive.
"By 10 p.m. (on Friday) we were able to rescue the survivors. After that it was about picking up dead bodies," he said. "This is very, very tragic. I have never seen anything like this in my career."
Ten to 12 coaches of one train derailed, and debris from some of the mangled coaches fell onto a nearby track, said Amitabh Sharma, a railroad ministry spokesperson. The debris was hit by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction, causing up to three coaches of the second train to also derail, he added.
A third train carrying freight was also involved, the Press Trust of India reported, but there was no immediate confirmation of that from railroad authorities. PTI said some of the derailed passenger coaches hit cars from the freight train.
Read more: India train crash: Few Bangladeshis suffered minor injuries, says deputy high commission
The death toll rose steadily throughout the night as footage showed shattered carriages that had overturned completely. Scores of dead bodies, covered by white sheets, lay on the ground near the train tracks as locals and rescuers raced to help survivors.
Teams of rescuers and police continued sifting through the ruins on Saturday morning as the search operation carried on, amid fears that the death toll is likely to rise further. Scores of people also showed up at a local hospital to donate blood.
Officials said 1,200 rescuers worked with 115 ambulances, 50 buses and 45 mobile health units through the night at the accident site. Saturday was declared as a day of mourning in Odisha as the state's chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, reached the district to meet injured passengers.
Villagers said they rushed to the site to evacuate people after hearing a loud sound created by the train coaches going off the tracks.
Read more: Railway suspends 3 employees over Cumilla train collision, salvage work continues
"The local people really went out on a limb to help us. They not only helped in pulling out people, but retrieved our luggage and got us water," PTI cited Rupam Banerjee, a survivor, as saying.
Passenger Vandana Kaleda said that inside the train during the derailment people were "falling on each other" as her coach shook violently and veered off the tracks.
"As I stepped out of the washroom, suddenly the train tilted. I lost my balance. ... Everything went topsy turvy. People started falling on each other and I was shocked and could not understand what happened. My mind stopped working," she said, adding she felt lucky to survive.
Another survivor who did not give his name said he was sleeping when the impact woke him up. He said he saw other passengers with broken limbs and disfigured faces.
Read more: Train accident in Odisha: Hotline opened for query about Bangladeshis
The derailed Coromandel Express was traveling from Howrah in West Bengal state to Chennai, the capital of southern Tamil Nadu state, PTI said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his thoughts were with the bereaved families.
"May the injured recover soon," tweeted Modi, who said he had spoken to the railway minister and that "all possible assistance" was being offered.
Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India's railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.
Read more: A look at deadly train crashes in India in recent decades
In August 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in one of the worst train accidents in India.
In 2016, a passenger train slid off the tracks between the cities of Indore and Patna, killing 146 people.
Most train accidents are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.
More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.
Read more: India sees huge potential for cooperation with Bangladesh Railway
Mother, daughter among 4 going to get Zakat clothes crushed under train in Tangail
Four women, including a mother and daughter, were crushed under the wheels of a train on Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandhu Bridge highway at Mirhamjani in Kalihati upazila of Tangail district this morning.
The deceased were identified as Basanti Rani, Aroti Rani Das, Shanti Rani and her daughter Shilpi Rani.
Maniruzzaman Manir, station master of Bangabandhu Bridge East Rail Station, said the accident occurred around 5:30 am when the Dhaka-bound ‘Ekota Express’ train hit the four while they were walking on the rail tracks, leaving them dead.
Also read: Man crushed under train wheels in Dhaka
They met the tragic end while heading towards Salla to receive Zakat clothes early this morning.
On information, police recovered the bodies.
Man crushed under train wheels in Dhaka
A man died after falling under the wheels of a running train while trying to get it off at Dhaka Airport railway station early Tuesday.
When the 60-year-old unidentified man was trying to get off the moving train around 9 am he slipped and fell under the wheels, said Sanu Mong Marma, ASI of Dhaka Railway Police Station.
The body was sent to the morgue of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital for an autopsy, he said.
Railway suspends 3 employees over Cumilla train collision, salvage work continues
Bangladesh Railway has suspended thee of its employees over Sunday’s collision between Sonar Bangla Express train and a freight train that left 35 people injured.
They are Abdul Quader, a guard (Chattogram division) ; Jasim Uddin, locomotive master (Dhaka headquarter); and Md Mohsin, assistant locomotive master (Dhaka headquarter).
Wahid, who was in charge of maintaining Hasanpur station signal, was also suspended.
Also Read: Two trains collide at Hasanpur Station in Cumilla; at least 20 injured
A four-member probe body was formed which was asked to submit the report within three working days.
Meanwhile, the train movement resumed after 9 pm on Sunday after two salvage trains removed the bogies from the main lines, train examiner SM Akhtar Hossain and Station Master of Hasanpur Railway Station Mong Marma said.
Work to remove the other bogies is underway, they said.
Six bogies and the locomotive of Sonar Bangla Express train derailed on Sunday injuring at least 35 passengers and six of them are in critical condition.
Several of the injured are being treated at Nangalkot Health Complex.
Officer-in-charge of Laksham Railway Police Station Jashim Uddin said, the Dhaka bound freight train was stationed in a line on the Hasanpur station.
Dhaka- bound Sonar Bangla Express from Chattagram wrongly entered the same line and hit the rear side of the freight train at around 6:22 pm.
Rescuers comb wreckage of Greece’s deadliest train crash
Rescuers searched late into the night Wednesday for survivors amid the mangled, burned-out wrecks of two trains that collided in northern Greece, killing at least 43 people and crumpling carriages into twisted steel knots in the country’s deadliest rail crash.
The impact just before midnight Tuesday threw some passengers into ceilings and out the windows.
“My head hit the roof of the carriage with the jolt,” Stefanos Gogakos, who was in a rear car, told state broadcaster ERT. He said windows shattered, showering riders with glass.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the collision of the passenger train and a freight train “a horrific rail accident without precedent in our country,” and pledged a full, independent investigation.
He said it appeared the crash was “mainly due to a tragic human error,” but did not elaborate.
The train from Athens to Thessaloniki was carrying 350 passengers, many of them students returning from raucous Carnival celebrations. While the track is double, both trains were traveling in opposite directions on the same line near the Vale of Tempe, a river valley about 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens.
STATIONMASTER ARRESTED; MINISTER RESIGNS
Authorities arrested the stationmaster at the train’s last stop, in the city of Larissa. They did not release the man’s name or the reason for the arrest, but the stationmaster is responsible for rail traffic on that stretch of the tracks. He was due to appear before a prosecutor Thursday to be formally charged.
Transportation Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned, saying he was stepping down “as a basic indication of respect for the memory of the people who died so unfairly.”
Karamanlis said he had made “every effort” to improve a railway system that had been “in a state that doesn’t befit the 21st century.”
But, he added, “When something this tragic happens, it’s impossible to continue as if nothing has happened.”
The union representing train workers announced a 24-hour strike for Thursday, while protests by left-wing groups broke out in Athens late Wednesday. Athens metro workers also called a 24-hour strike for Thursday, saying they face similar problems as railway employees.
WRECKAGE MAKES RESCUE EFFORTS DIFFICULT
Emergency workers used cranes and other heavy machinery to move large pieces of the trains, revealing more bodies and dismembered remains. The operation was to continue overnight, with firefighters proceeding painstakingly through the wreckage.
“It’s unlikely there will be survivors, but hope dies last,” rescuer Nikos Zygouris said.
Larissa’s chief coroner, Roubini Leondari, said 43 bodies had been brought to her for examination and would require DNA identification as they were largely disfigured.
“Most (of the bodies) are young people,” she told ERT. “They are in very bad condition.”
Greece’s firefighting service said 57 people remained hospitalized late Wednesday, including six in intensive care. More than 15 others were discharged after receiving treatment.
More than 200 people who were unharmed or suffered minor injuries were taken by bus to Thessaloniki, 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the north. Police took their names as they arrived, in an effort to track anyone who may be missing.
Hellenic Train, which operates all of Greece’s passenger and cargo trains, including those that collided, offered its “heartfelt condolences” to the victims’ families. The company belongs to Italy’s state railways.
Eight rail employees were among the dead, including the two drivers of the freight train and the two drivers of the passenger train, according to Yannis Nitsas, president of the Greek Railroad Workers Union.
The union called the one-day strike to protest what it said was chronic neglect of Greece’s railways by successive governments.
“Unfortunately, our long-standing demands for staff hirings, better training and above all use of modern safety technology always end up in the wastepaper basket,” it said in a statement.
PASSENGERS SAY TRAIN CRASH WAS LIKE AN EXPLOSION
A teenage survivor who did not give his name to reporters said that just before the crash he felt sudden braking and saw sparks — and then there was a sudden stop.
“Our carriage didn’t derail, but the ones in front did and were smashed,” he said, visibly shaken. He used a bag to break the window of his car, the fourth, and escape.
Gogakos said the crash felt like an explosion, and some smoke entered the carriage. He said some passengers escaped through windows but that after a few minutes, crew members were able to open the doors and let people out.
Multiple cars derailed, and at least one burst into flames.
“Temperatures reached 1,300 degrees Celsius (2,372 degrees Fahrenheit), which makes it even more difficult to identify the people who were in it,” fire service spokesperson Vassilis Varthakoyiannis said.
A man who was trying to ascertain the fate of his daughter, who was on the train, said he had a harrowing phone conversation with her before she was cut off.
“She told me, ‘We’re on fire. ... My hair is burning,’” he told ERT, without giving his name.
GREECE GOES FROM CARNIVAL TO MOURNING
Many of the passengers were students returning to Thessaloniki from Carnival, but officials said but no detailed passenger list was available. This year was the first time the festival, which precedes Lent, was celebrated in full since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
The government declared three days of national mourning from Wednesday, while flags flew at half-staff outside all European Commission buildings in Brussels.
Visiting the accident scene, Prime Minister Mitsotakis said the government must help the injured recover and identify the dead.
“I can guarantee one thing: We will find out the causes of this tragedy, and we will do all that’s in our power so that something like this never happens again,” Mitsotakis said.
It was the country’s deadliest rail crash on record. In 1968, 34 people died in a crash in the southern Peloponnese region.
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou broke off an official visit to Moldova to visit the scene, laying flowers beside the wreckage.
Pope Francis offered condolences to the families of the dead in a message sent to the president of the Greek bishops conference by the Vatican’s secretary of state,
Condolences poured in from around the world, including neighboring Turkey, Greece’s historic regional rival. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed sorrow and wishes for a speedy recovery for those injured, his office said.
Despite the frosty relations between the two NATO members, Greece’s leadership had called Erdogan last month following a massive earthquake that killed tens of thousands in Turkey.
In Athens, several hundred members of left-wing groups marched late Wednesday to protest the train deaths. Minor clashes broke out as some protesters threw stones at the offices of Greece’s rail operator and riot police and set dumpsters on fire. No arrests or injuries were reported.
Man crushed under train in Ctg’s Faujdarhat
A 55-year-old man died under a train while crossing the rail tracks at Chalimpur union’s Faujdarhat area in Sitakunda upazila of Chattogram district on Saturday.
The deceased, Salauddin, was the son of late Ledur of the area.
Locals said the man, a night guard of Seema Steel Factory, was on his way home after his shift ended in the morning. He fell while crossing the tracks and was crushed under a train.
Also Read: Deaf toddler crushed under train in Faridpur
Hasan Ali, ASI of GRP Police Phari confirmed the incident.
Youth crushed under wheels of train in Mohakhali
A youth was crushed under the wheels of a train in Mohakhali rail gate area of the capital Friday, Government Railway Police (GRP) said.
Though the identity of the victim could not be known immediately, he was aged between 20 to 25 years.
Sanu Mong, assistant sub inspector at Dhaka Railway Police Station in GRP, quoting witnesses said that the accident happened around 11.30am when the Kamalapur-bound train ‘Agnebeena’ hit him when he was crossing the train track while on his mobile phone in the rail gate area.
Also Read: Ten people hurt in collision between locomotive and train in Nilphamari
The impact from the accident severed his body into two parts, Mong said, adding that on information they recovered the body.
The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy after completing legal procedures, the ASI added.
3 dead as bus hits motorbike in Faridpur; Bus set ablaze
Three people including two members of a family were killed when a bus hit a motorbike at Mansurabad in Bhanga upazila of Faridpur district on Sunday.
The deceased were identified as Moin Uddin Sheikh, 35, his daughter Tabassum, 10 and Sourav Matabbar, 16, son of Miraj Matabbar of Nagarkanda upazila.
Helal Uddin Bhuiya, additional superintendent of Faridpur (Bhanga circle) Police, said the accident occurred around 12:30 pm when the Dhaka-bound bus of ‘Star Line Paribahan’ from Gopalganj hit the motorbike coming from opposite direction, leaving two riders dead on the spot and the girl injured.
Also read: Bangladesh 88th among 183 countries in road accident death rate: Minister
Injured Tabassum was taken to a local hospital where doctors pronounced her dead.
Agitated local people put up barricade on the road and set the bus on fire after the accident.
On information, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.
1 killed, 27 hurt as train hits bus in Sirajganj
A man was killed and 27 people were injured when a train hit a bus on a level crossing near Shaheed Mansur Ali Station in Sadar upazila of Sirajganj district early Thursday.
The identity of the deceased could not be known immediately.
Harun-or-Rashid, officer-in-charge of Sirajganj Bazar Railway Police Station, said the Rajshahi-bound inter-city train ‘Padma Express’ from Dhaka hit the Dhaka-bound bus from Thakurgaon while it was passing the level crossing at Kaddar intersection around 4:30 am, leaving one killed on the spot and 27 others injured.
Read more: Noakhali Chhatra Dal leader killed as covered van rams motorcycle
The accident occurred when the bus tried to pass the level crossing hurriedly amid dense fog. The gateman was found absent.
Rail communication of Dhaka with northern parts of the country has been suspended as the engine of the train went out of order after the accident.
The injured were taken to Sirajganj 250-bed Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib General Hospital.
Unidentified man crushed under train in Sylhet
An unidentified man got crushed under a speeding train in Sylhet on Sunday.
Locals spotted the disfigured body of the man lying at Shibbari rail crossing at South Surma area in the city in morning and informed railway police, said SM Kamal Hossain, Officer-in-Charge of Sylhet railway police station.
Read more: 4 die as train hits auto-rickshaw in Cumilla
The body has been recovered and he might have been hit by Dhaka bound Kalni Express train in the morning, said the OC.
The body has been sent for an autopsy and efforts are on to know his identity, he said.