Photo Gallery: The deadly three-train crash in Odisha’s Balasore

From a nearby hill the accident site looked like as if a powerful whirlwind had thrown train coaches on top of each other, in a haphazard "wrathful" manner, reported PTI.

Published Jun 03, 2023 | 2:09 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 03, 2023 | 2:09 PM

Rescue personnel work at the scene of accident near Bahanaga Railway Station in Odisha’s Balasore district. (Supplied).

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At least 260 people were killed and some 650 others injured in a collision involving three trains — the Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast, and a freight train — near Bahanaga Railway Station in Odisha’s Balasore district on Friday, 2 June,

The death toll may rise further. Scenes from the accident site:

: The Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express crashed into the derailed carriages of the Howrah-bound Sir M Visvesvaraya-Howrah Superfast Express around 7 pm on Friday, 2 June. The coaches of the Coramandel Express, too, derailed, and some of them smashed into a stationary freight train. (Supplied)

: More than 200 ambulances, 50 buses, 45 mobile health units, hundreds of doctors, nurses and about 1,200 rescue personnel are at the scene. (Supplied)

: The train crash occurred near the Bahanaga Baazar station in the Balasore district, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar. (Supplied)

: Locals said they heard consecutive loud sounds, following which they rushed to the spot and found the derailed coaches, which were nothing but “a mangled heap of steel”. (Supplied)

: Besides NDRF personnel, Army columns were rushed in and Air Force helicopters deployed for relief and rescue operations for passengers injured in the triple train crash site at Bahana Nagar. (Supplied)

: While it is not clear what caused the crash, sources indicated a possible signalling failure. (Supplied)

: “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, ” Rupam Banerjee, one of the passengers, said. (Supplied)

: he Indian Railways said the anti-train collision system “Kavach” was not available on the route. (Supplied)

: An extensive search-and-rescue operation was launched immediately after the accident. Local residents were the first respondents. . (Supplied)

: One of the coaches “was pushed into the ground ” as another from a neighbouring train collapsed on top of it, passengers said. (Supplied)

: AM Chowdhary, Commissioner Railway Safety, South East Circle, will probe the accident. Incidentally, the Commissioner Railway Safety, comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation. (Supplied)

: “We felt a suddent jolt and saw the train bogie turning to one side. Many of us were thrown out of the compartment. When we managed to crawl out, we found bodies lying all around,” Pijust Poddar, a resident of Berhampore in West Bengal, said. He was travelling to Tamil Nadu on the Coramandel Express. (Supplied)

: Eighteen long-distance trains were cancelled due to the accident, which happened on the Howrah-Chennai main line in the Kharagpur division of the South Eastern Railway. (Supplied)

: Railway tracks were almost destroyed at the spot as mangled coaches lay strewn all over, with some having mounted on another, while a few coaches turned turtle due to the impact. (Supplied)

: A survivor said several people fell on him on impact and everything went haywire. (Supplied)

: The railways said on Saturday noon that the rescue operations have been completed and restoration works have begun. (Supplied)

: The force with which the trains collided resulted in several coaches getting crushed and mangled. The Coromandel Express reportedly cruising at 127 kmph when the accident occurred. (Supplied)

: Balasore district hospital looked like a war zone with the injured lying on stretchers in the corridor and rooms bursting at its seams with extra beds propped up. (Supplied)

: Harried medical staff tried to bring succour to patients many of whom are from states other than Odisha and had difficulties in communicating. (Supplied)