India PM says ‘the guilty’ for deadly train crash will get ‘harshest punishment’
At least 288 people were killed and more than 850 injured in Friday’s accident in Odisha’s Balasore district state.
Rescuers work at the scene. Press Trust of India/AP© Associated Press
On his visit to the crash site on Saturday, Mr Modi also pledged to look after the families of those killed and injured in the accident.
“This is a very big, painful and disturbing incident, those family members who have been injured, the government will leave no effort for their well-being,” he told reporters.
“Those we have lost will not come back, the government is with the families in hour of grief. It’s a very serious matter of concern for the government.
“Instructions have been given for all types of enquiries and the guilty should get the harshest punishment, they will not be spared.”
A preliminary report indicated that the accident was caused by signal failure, leading one passenger train to come off the tracks and hit another one. A further freight train was involved in the incident that took place around 7pm local time on Friday.
K S Anand, chief public relations officer of the South Eastern Railway, said: “The Coromandel Express was supposed to travel on the main line, but a signal was given for the loop line instead, and the train rammed into a goods train already parked over there.
“Its coaches then fell onto the tracks on either side, also derailing the Howrah Superfast Express,” he said.
Many dead bodies remain in the wreckage of the trains, and the death toll is expected to continue rising.
Passenger Anubha Das said he would never forget the scene.
“Families crushed away, limbless bodies and a bloodbath on the tracks,” he told Reuters.
Video footage showed derailed train coaches and damaged tracks, with rescue teams searching the mangled carriages to pull the survivors out and rush them to hospital.
Dead bodies were lying on the bloodstained floor of a school used as a makeshift morgue, and police helped relatives identify the bodies, covered with white cloths and placed inside chained bags.
Mr Modi talked to rescue workers and inspected the wreckage on Saturday. He also met with survivors at hospitals.
“[I] took stock of the situation at the site of the tragedy in Odisha. Words can’t capture my deep sorrow. We stand committed to providing all possible assistance to those affected,” he said.
Families of the dead will receive 1 million rupees ($12,000), while the seriously injured will get 200,000 rupees, with 50,000 rupees for minor injuries, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. Some state governments have also announced compensation.
“It’s a big, tragic accident,” Mr Vaishnaw told reporters after inspecting the accident site. “Our complete focus is on the rescue and relief operation, and we are trying to ensure that those injured get the best possible treatment.”
Opposition Congress party leader Jairam Ramesh said the accident reinforced why safety should always be the foremost priority of the rail network.
Mr Modi’s administration launched high-speed trains as part of plans to modernise the network, but critics say it has not focused enough on safety and upgrading ageing infrastructure.
