Around 7 am on Friday, a collision between two trains in the eastern Indian state of Orissa left at least 280 dead and more than 800 injured.
The collision took place near the town of Balasore and according to the reconstruction of the local railway network it involved two passenger trains going in opposite directions: the Coromandel Express and the Howrah Superfast Express. Some newspapers have spoken of a third freight train, but for the moment there is no confirmation. In general it is not clear which train caused the accident and for what reason.
After the collision, over 200 ambulances arrived at the scene and firefighters, police and dozens of doctors from the area rushed. About 850 people were taken to hospital and many hours were spent searching for missing passengers or trapped under the wreckage of the trains. The number of dead could rise in the next few hours. Outside the hospital in Soro, a town close to the accident in the Orissa region, a small crowd of young people lined up to donate blood.
The Indian railway network says it transports 13 million people every day in the country: however, the numerous safety problems caused by old trains and poor maintenance have long been known. Saturday was declared a national day of mourning for those killed in the crash.
It is one of the deadliest train accidents in the last two centuries of the country’s history. The worst train accident in India in recent history dates back to 1981, when a train fell off a bridge, killing more than 800 people.
