This content was published on Jun 6, 2023 – 3:59 PM. Jun 6, 2023 – 3:59 p.m
New Delhi, 6 June (EFE). – Indian authorities have today brought the death toll in the deadliest rail disaster in India in the 21st century to 288, while asking victims’ families to identify more than 80 bodies that have not yet been collected.
“After a detailed review of the files and gathering information from all those involved, as well as conducting two rounds of cleaning on the tracks and the surrounding area, 288 deaths were confirmed,” said the Secretary-General of the Indian state of Odisha (where the accident occurred), Pradeep Jena.
Of the total number of dead, “205 bodies were identified and transferred. 83 have yet to be identified,” said Jena.
The death toll matches that released by Indian authorities last Saturday, which was lowered to 275 the following day after some bodies were reportedly double counted amid the chaos that broke out at the scene of the tragedy.
Jena told the media that the number of fatalities had risen again after the accident area had been combed again and after consultation with the district hospitals.
The accident happened last Friday in Balasore district, in the eastern state of Odisha, when a passenger train ran onto a track where a second parked freight train was standing, with which it collided and then derailed. At that time, another passenger train passing through the station collided with both.
Although Indian authorities have claimed to have identified the cause and those responsible for the incident, a team from India’s Central Committee of Investigation (CBI), one of the country’s key agencies, arrived in Balasore this morning to investigate the responsible party the investigation. Investigation among critics of the opposition.
It is the deadliest train accident in India since two trains collided in August 1999 in the northeastern state of West Bengal, killing 288 people. About 800 people died in 1981 when a train derailed while crossing a bridge and plunged into a river in northern Bihar state.
At 68,000 kilometers long, the Indian railway network is the fourth largest in the world behind the USA, Russia and China, has around 21,650 trains and 7,349 stations across the country and carries around 23 million passengers every day. passengers. EFE
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