It is India's worst rail accident in more than a decade. State chief secretary Pradeep Jena said the death toll was expected to rise.
Sudhanshu Sarangi, director general of the fire department in Odisha, told Reuters that 207 bodies have been found so far.
Images from the scene showed rescuers climbing over the wreckage of one of the overturned trains to search for survivors. Videos shared on social media showed the arrival of several ambulances and people being pulled from the overturned carriages.
“I was at the scene, I saw blood, broken limbs and dead people around,” a witness told Reuters by phone.
Image at the scene. (Photo: Reuters)
Hundreds of young people queued outside a government hospital in Odisha to donate blood.
Rescue teams have been called in from Bhubaneswar and Kolkata, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. Three teams of the National Disaster Response Force are at the accident site and six more teams are being deployed.
The collision occurred at around 7 p.m. local time, when the Howrah Superfast Express, running from Bangalore to Howrah, West Bengal, derailed and collided with the Coromandel Express, running from Kolkata to Chennai, railway officials said.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the government's priority was to "take the living to hospitals".
Rescue operations are underway at the site and “every possible assistance” is being provided to those affected, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
Image of damaged train car. (Photo: Reuters)
Phuong Anh (Source: Reuters)
Useful
Emotion
Creative
Unique
Source
Comment (0)