Train accident in India: Around 300 dead and more than 850 injured

In India, around 300 people died when two trains collided. It is still unclear how the tragedy could have happened. The number of injured people is rising continuously.

A Coromandel Express passenger train and a freight train have collided in the Indian state of Odisha. Eight wagons derailed, and 300 people have already died. The accident is considered one of the worst railway accidents in recent decades in eastern India, as reported by the Indian newspaper Hindustan Times. Video on the spot has already appeared on the net.

The train accident occurred around 19:20 local time near Bahanaga Bazar station, when the train was traveling from Shalimar station near Calcutta to Chennai. Several rescue trains, 50 ambulances and several fire brigades were sent there. More than 850 injured people were taken to nearby hospitals, according to the ANI news agency. Gobinda Mondal, one of the passengers, got out of a wrecked carriage through a broken window. He recounted:

"I had given up all hope. I thought we were going to die. I was one of the passengers who managed to get out of our car through a broken window. We were taken to an ambulance for first aid. We are out of danger, but I have seen some of the injured. One of them complained of chest pain."

A few hours after the accident, the Hindustan Times reported that another passenger train had derailed in the same place where the collision had occurred. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote in light of the tragedy:

"In this hour of suffering, my thoughts are with the families of the victims. May the injured recover soon. I spoke to the Minister of Railways and got an idea of the situation. Rescue work at the scene of the accident is underway and the injured are receiving all possible assistance."

All medical facilities and hospitals near the scene of the accident have been warned to prepare to receive the injured. Authorities fear that many passengers could remain trapped in the damaged carriages.

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