Coromandel, Bengaluru-Howrah Express trains derail; 50 dead, 179 injured

At least 50 people died and 179 people were injured as a three way accident involving BengaluruHowrah superfast express the Coromandel Express and goods train on three separate tracks occurred at Bahanagar in Odishas Balasore districtA railway official said that several coaches of 12864 BengaluruHowrah superfast express travelling to Howrah derailed at Bahanagabazar and fell on the up lineThese derailed coaches collided with 12841 ShalimarChennai Coromandel Express and its coaches capsized too he saidA goods train was also involved in the accident as the coaches of the Coromandel Express hit its wagons after getting derailed the official saidThe accident occurred at around 7 pm about 255 kms from Howrah he saidOdishas Special Relief Commissioner Satyabrata Sahoo said 47 people have so far been admitted to the Balasore Medical College and HospitalA PTI reporter at the spot said several people were trapped under the derailed coaches and locals were assisting emergency services personnel to rescue them but darkness was hindering the operationOdishas Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena said 132 injured persons were admitted to Soro Gopalpur and Khantapada health centres while 47 people were admitted to the Balasore Medical College and HospitalChief Minister Naveen Patnaik directed Special Relief Secretary Satyabrata Sahoo and Revenue Minister Pramila Malik to rush to the accident site officials saidAccident relief trains have been dispatched to the spot a South Eastern Railway official saidFour units of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force ODRAF three units of NDRF and 60 ambulances were working to rescue the injured officials saidThe Odisha government has issued helpline 06782262286 The railway helplines are 03326382217 Howrah 8972073925 Kharagpur 8249591559 Balasore and 044 25330952 ChennaiPrime Minister Narendra Modi said he was distressed by the accident and spoke with Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to take stock of the situationDistressed by the train accident in Odisha In this hour of grief my thoughts are with the bereaved families May the injured recover soon Spoke to Railway Minister AshwiniVaishnaw and took stock of the situation Rescue ops are underway at the site of the mishap and all possible assistance is being given to those affected he tweetedWest Bengal Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi said the state was sending a team led by minister Manas Bhunia and MP Dola Sen to the spotWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was personally monitoring the situation along with the chief secretary and other officialsWe are coordinating with Odisha government and South Eastern Railways for our peoples sake Our emergency control room has been activated at once with numbers 033 22143526 22535185 All out efforts for rescue retrieval aid and assistance initiated she tweetedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever