The death toll from a devastating train crash in India has risen to at least 288 people, with 900 more injured, as officials have halted the search for survivors.
The disastrous train crash, which happened on Friday, June 2 in India, is considered the most catastrophic in the nation’s history for over two decades.
Rescue workers labored intensely, navigating through the twisted wreckage. Their main tools were cutting torches which they used to gain access through doors and windows in their search for any potential signs of life.
Two passenger trains and a stationary freight train were involved in the collision, which occurred in Odisha, an eastern state of India. Numerous bodies were found near the tracks, and were covered with white sheets. Locals and rescue teams worked without pause to extract individuals trapped inside the damaged rail cars.
The massive rescue operation involved multiple organizations, such as the army, air force helicopters, the fire department, police, and the National Disaster Response Force. Despite their best efforts, the operation was eventually called off. The work then shifted to debris removal, to allow for the restoration of rail traffic.
The high-speed Coromandel Express, which was not scheduled to stop at the Bahanaga Bazar station, collided with a stationary freight train, causing its derailment. This caused 21 coaches to veer off the track, with three landing on another track. At the same time, the Yesvantpur-Howrah Express, traveling from the opposite direction, crashed into the derailed coaches, causing two additional coaches to derail.
An investigation into the incident suggested that a malfunction in the electronic signaling system was the probable cause. Officials have yet to establish if the error was human or technical. Even though this system is typically reliable, the possibility of error cannot be ruled out completely. It still remains a mystery why the freight train was stationary and why the Coromandel Express wasn’t warned of its presence on the tracks.
This unfortunate event occurred amidst Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempts to modernize the Indian railway network, raising questions about safety standards and the condition of the aging infrastructure. India’s railways, despite being the largest single-entity train network globally, suffer from regular accidents, largely due to the decay of its infrastructure.