BALASORE, India (AP) – The train derailment in eastern India, which killed more than 300 people and injured hundreds more, was caused by a fault in the electronic signaling system that caused a train to change tracks incorrectly, India’s railways minister said on Sunday.
“Who did it and what is the reason for it will be an investigation,” Ashwini Vaishnaw said in an interview with the New Delhi Television Network.
The statement came as authorities worked to clear the wrecked debris of the two passenger trains that derailed in Balasore district, eastern Odisha state, on Friday night in one of the country’s deadliest rail accidents in decades.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the Coromandel Express high-speed train was given a signal to enter the main line, but the signal was later withdrawn and the train instead entered an adjacent ring line, where it rammed into a freight train. The collision sent the Coromandel Express carriages onto another track, causing the Yesvantpur-Howrah Express coming from the opposite side to derail and cause a three-train collision.
The passenger trains carried a total of 2,296 people.
Trains carrying freight are often parked on an adjacent ring line, leaving the main line free for a passing train.
On Saturday night, 15 bodies were recovered and efforts continued overnight when heavy cranes were used to remove a locomotive that had landed on the roof of a railway carriage. No bodies were found in the engine and the work was completed on Sunday morning, said Sudhanshu Sarangi, director-general of Odisha Fire and Rescue Service.
The accident came at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was focused on modernizing the British colonial-era railway network in India, which has become the world’s most populous country with 1.42 billion people. Despite government efforts to improve railway safety, several hundred accidents occur each year on India’s railways, the world’s largest single-line train network.
Chaotic scenes erupted Friday night as rescuers climbed onto the wrecked trains and used blowtorches to smash open doors and windows to rescue people trapped inside the train cars.
Modi visited the crash site on Saturday to assess relief efforts and speak with rescue workers. He also visited a hospital, where he interviewed doctors about the treatment of the injured and spoke to some patients.
Modi told reporters he felt the pain of the victims of the accident. He said the government will do its utmost to help them and severely punish anyone found responsible.
Ten to twelve cars from one train derailed, and debris from some of the damaged cars fell onto a nearby track. The debris was struck by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction, causing up to three carriages of the second train to also derail, said Amitabh Sharma, a spokesman for the Ministry of Railways.
In 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in one of the worst train accidents in India. In 2016, a passenger train between the cities of Indore and Patna slid off the tracks, killing 146 people.
Most train accidents in India are attributed to human error or outdated signaling equipment.
More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, covering 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.
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Sharma reported from New Delhi.