At least 50 people were killed and over 300 injured in a rail accident involving three trains in Odisha state in eastern India, officials, and local media said on Friday evening.
The incident happened in the state's Balasore district on Friday evening, according to officials.
A local news gathering agency Press Trust of India said 50 people died in the incident.
Sudhanshu Sarangi, director general of the Fire Services Department Odisha, told Anadolu that the number of deaths in the mishap could be over 100.
Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena told reporters on Friday night that 300-400 injured people have been admitted to different hospitals, adding that 500-600 rescue workers are carrying out the rescue operation at the site.
Indian Railway Ministry spokesman Amitabh Sharma told Anadolu that one passenger train got derailed on Friday evening and its coaches fell on the opposite track.
“The derailed coaches hit another passenger train, throwing a few coaches of the second train off the track,” he said, adding a goods train was also involved in the accident.
Indian Railway authorities announced compensation for the victims. A massive rescue operation has been launched at the spot after the accident, according to the officials.
Country's Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tweeted that rescue teams from Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and airforce have been mobilized.
The chief minister of nearby West Bengal state, Mamata Banerjee, said that the Shalimar-Coromondel Express, carrying passengers from West Bengal, collided with a goods train on Friday evening. “Some of our outbound people have been seriously affected/injured,” she wrote on Twitter.
Home Minister Amit Shah said that the train accident at Balasore in Odisha is "deeply agonizing."
"The NDRF team has already reached the accident site, and other teams are also rushing to join the rescue operation," he said.
The country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Distressed by the train accident in Odisha. In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon.”
