By Newslineglobal
At least 50 people have been killed and 350 are injured after two passenger trains collided in the Eastern Indian state of Odisha.
It was gathered that at 7.30pm, Friday, June 2, the Howrah Superfast Express derailed before the Coromandel Express crashed into it in Odisha’s Balasore district, according to railway officials.
“The injured passengers were taken to various hospitals, Odisha’s Chief Secretary , Pradeep Jena told Newsmen ,almost 500 police officers and rescue workers with 75 ambulances and buses rushed to the scene, according to Pradeep Jena, Odisha’s chief secrretary, Patnaik said.
Images from the scene showed rescuers climbing up the mangled wreck of one of the trains to find survivors.
Some passengers are believed to have been trapped under the wreckage.
India’s Home Minister Amit Shah said the incident was “deeply agonising”.
Senior fire service official Sudhanshu Sarangi told Indian broadcaster NDTV the toll for dead and injured “may go up” and there is not yet any clarity on this.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said rescue operations were underway at the site and “all possible assistance” is being given to those affected.
Rescue teams have been mobilised from Odisha’s Bhubaneswar and Kolkata in West Bengal, according to the country’s federal Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The National Disaster Response Force, state government teams and the air force had also mobilised to respond to the incident.