2023-06-05 17:49:26
A good 50 hours following the deadly train disaster in India, rail traffic on the accident route has started once more. According to the Ministry of Transport on Monday, the first vehicle late on Sunday evening was a freight train loaded with coal. Meanwhile, the authorities officially corrected the death toll from 288 to 275.
The police are investigating possible criminal negligence. A railway authority had recommended that the police investigate accordingly, as local media reported on Monday. According to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the cause of the accident was probably a fault in the electrical signal.
The political opposition accused the government of drawing attention to a possible criminal background instead of taking responsibility for safety problems at the railway. She called on the railway minister to resign.
Dozens of bodies were still unidentified as of Monday, Odisha state chief Pradeep Kumar Jena said. Many relatives tried to identify the victims, some of whom were severely disfigured, in several morgues.
Three trains collided on Friday in the eastern Indian state of Odisha near the city of Balasore. As the newspaper “Times of India” reported, citing the preliminary results of the investigation, an express train crashed into a parked freight train due to a fault in the electronic signaling system. Three wagons were thrown onto adjacent tracks and hit the rear of another express train.
The administration of the state of Odisha gave the number of registered deaths on Monday at 275. The previously higher number can be explained by the fact that some victims were erroneously counted twice. Of the 1,175 injured, 382 continued to be treated in hospital. It is feared that the death toll might rise due to overwhelmed medical facilities and serious injuries.
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