Desperate relatives searched for loved ones missing after India\u2019s worst train disaster in decade
\nODISHA
\nDebris was piled high at the site of Friday night\u2019s crash near Balasore, in the eastern state of Odisha, with compartments smashed and the blood-stained wreckage of some carriages flung far from the tracks.
\n\u201cI saw bloodied scenes, mangled bodies and one man with a severed arm being desperately helped by his injured son,\u201d researcher Anubhav Das, 27, told AFP after surviving the crash.
\nIndia\u2019s Railway Minister said Sunday the cause and people responsible for the crash had been identified, pointing to an electronic signal system without giving further details.
\n\u201cWe have identified the cause of the accident and the people responsible for it,\u201d India\u2019s Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told news agency ANI, but said it was \u201cnot appropriate\u201d to give details before a final investigation report.
\nEarlier reports cited railway officials as saying that a signalling error had sent the Coromandal Express running south from Kolkata to Chennai onto a side track.
\nIt slammed into a freight train and the wreckage derailed an express running north from India\u2019s tech hub Bengaluru to Kolkata that was also passing the site.
\nPrime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site and injured passengers being treated in hospital and said \u201cno one responsible\u201d would be spared.
\n\u201cI pray that we get out of this sad moment as soon as possible,\u201d he told state broadcaster Doordarshan.
\nA high school close to the crash site had been turned into a makeshift morgue, but officials said many of the bodies were so disfigured that many of the distraught families could only spot their loved ones by pieces of jewellery.
\n\u201cThere were bodies with only a torso, an entirely burnt face, disfigured skull and no other visible identity markers left,\u201d said Ranajit Nayak, the police officer in charge of releasing the bodies.
\nIn sweltering heat, many of the bodies were being transferred to bigger centres and officials suggested some would only be identified by DNA testing.
\n\u2018Death and grief\u2019
\nDas said he was in the last carriage of one of the trains when he heard \u201cscreeching, horrifying sounds coming from a distance\u201d.
\nHis coach stayed upright and he jumped out unhurt after it ground to a halt.
\n\u201cI lost count of the bodies before leaving the site. Now I feel almost guilty,\u201d he said.
\nBystanders rushed to help the victims even before emergency services arrived.
\n\u201cThere were severed arms, legs, and even some partially severed heads \u2013 while the unluckier ones died in pain, too much pain,\u201d said witness Hiranmay Rath.
\nOver the next few hours the 20-year-old saw \u201cmore death and grief\u201d than he could have \u201cever imagined\u201d, he told AFP.
\nAuthorities said every hospital between the crash site and the state capital Bhubaneswar, around 200 kilometres (125 miles) away, was receiving victims. Around 200 ambulances \u2013 and even buses \u2013 were deployed to transport them.
\nThe rescue effort was declared over on Saturday evening after emergency personnel had combed the mangled wreckage for survivors and laid scores of bodies out under white sheets beside the tracks.
\n\u201cAll the dead bodies and injured passengers have been removed from the accident site,\u201d said an official from the Balasore emergency control room.
\nThe death toll from the crash was revised down from 288 after it was found that some bodies had been counted twice, said Pradeep Jena, chief secretary of the eastern state of Odisha.
\nThe tally was unlikely to rise, he told reporters. \u201cNow the rescue operation is complete.\u201d
\nDevastating crash
\nIndia has one of the world\u2019s largest rail networks and has seen several disasters over the years, the worst of them in 1981 when a train derailed while crossing a bridge in Bihar and plunged into the river below, killing between 800 and 1,000 people.
\nFriday\u2019s crash ranks as its third-worst, and the deadliest since 1995, when two express trains collided in Firozabad, near Agra, killing more than 300 people.
\nThe disaster comes despite new investments and upgrades in technology that have significantly improved railway safety in recent years.
\nThe railways ministry has announced an investigation. Condolences have poured in from around the world.
\nPope Francis said he was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by the \u201cimmense loss of life\u201d and offered prayers for the \u201cmany injured\u201d, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres extended \u201chis deep condolences to the families of the victims\u201d.
\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron sent his condolences to India\u2019s president and prime minister, saying in a tweet that his \u201cthoughts are with the families of the victims\u201d.
\nUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered \u201cour heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims\u201d and praised the \u201cheroic efforts of first responders and medical personnel\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Desperate relatives searched for loved ones missing after India\u2019s worst train disaster in decade ODISHA Debris was piled high at the site of Friday night\u2019s crash near Balasore, in the eastern state of Odisha, with compartments smashed and the blood-stained wreckage of some carriages flung far from the tracks. \u201cI saw bloodied scenes, mangled bodies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335736,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-335705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n