India’s railways minister announced on Sunday that the cause and those responsible for India’s worst train disaster in decades have been identified.
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“We have identified the cause of the accident and the people responsible for it,” Indian Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw told ANI news agency on Sunday. He added that it was “not appropriate” to release more details before the final investigative report.
The preliminary number of three-train collisions that occurred near Balasore in Odisha state in the east of the country on Friday reports at least 288 deaths.
According to the minister, “the change that took place during the electronic interlocking is the cause of the accident,” referring to a complex set of signals that control traffic on the tracks to prevent trains from colliding.
“The perpetrator and the manner in which the accident happened will be determined after a proper investigation,” he added.
Confusion reigns at the moment, but the Times of India newspaper, citing the preliminary investigation report, said “human error” may have caused the three-train collision, one of India’s worst train disasters in the country’s history.
The Coromandel Express, which connects Kolkata with Madras, was given the green light to operate on the main line on Friday but was diverted on a route where a freight train was already running due to human error, the newspaper said.
The passenger train then crashed into the freight convoy at a speed of around 130 km/h. Three wagons then fell onto the adjacent track and crashed into the rear of an express train running between Bangalore and Kolkata. That collision caused the most damage, the Times adds, citing the preliminary report.
Odisha State Premier Pradeep Jena confirmed that around 900 injured people had been taken to hospital.