India train crash kills 275
- June 5, 2023
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Authorities in India have reduced the death toll in a three train derailment in the country’s east to 275, compared to 288 in the latest balance sheet, in
Authorities in India have reduced the death toll in a three train derailment in the country’s east to 275, compared to 288 in the latest balance sheet, in which some bodies were counted twice due to the chaos unleashed by the country’s worst train accident in the east. 21st century in the Asian giant.
“After discarding duplicates, the district chief came up with a final figure of 275, not 288,” Pradeep Jena, general secretary of the eastern state of Odisha, where the incident took place last Friday, told the media.
“Yesterday, the Railroad reported that the death toll finally stood at 288. Since last night, the district judge and his entire team have checked every body received (…) and found that some of the bodies were counted twice,” Jena added. .
The official indicated that 88 bodies have been identified so far, with authorities in the Asian country seeking to facilitate the arrival of relatives to the area and the capital of Odisha, and are using the Internet to publish photographs of the dead. bodies that have not yet been identified.
Jena increased the number of people injured in the accident to 1175 people and said that almost 800 of them were discharged for health reasons. Indian Railways, in its latest casualty report, indicated that at least 56 people are in serious condition.
The accident occurred at 19:20 local time (1350 GMT) on Friday in the Balasore district when a passenger train entered a track occupied by a second parked freight train, collided and derailed. At the time, another passenger railway passing through the station collided with both, Indian Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnow said during a press briefing.
Authorities have announced compensation of more than $12,000 for those killed, about $2,500 for those seriously injured, and $606 for those with minor injuries.
It is India’s worst rail accident of the 21st century after two train derailments occurred in the northeastern state of West Bengal in August 1999, killing 288 people. About 800 people died in 1981 when a train derailed while crossing a bridge and plunged into a river in the northern state of Bihar.
With 68,000 kilometers, the Indian rail network is the fourth longest in the world after the United States, Russia and China. It has about 21,650 trains and 7,349 stations throughout the country and carries about 23 million passengers daily. passengers.
new crash
Monday’s train derailment in the eastern state of Odisha, where a brutal train accident took place last Friday that killed 275 people and injured more than a thousand, highlights India’s safety deficiencies, with derailments accounting for 70% of claims.
Today’s accident was fatal and involved a freight train that derailed at a private factory, but added to a long list of rail accidents in India, the country with the world’s fourth longest rail network.
According to a recent report by the Auditor General (CAG), between April 2017 and March 2021, there were 2017 incidents in which derailments were cited as the most common cause, accounting for 70% of incidents.
The report analyzes the state of India’s rail network over these four years, followed by a warning of “dwindling funds for track upgrades” as well as staffing shortages and a large number of deficiencies reported by most railways. , inspections.
During this period, the CAG concluded that the main cause of the derailment was “track maintenance” with 167 accidents, outperforming other causes such as “out of tolerance” with 149, and “poor driving or speeding” from 144.
In addition, he estimated the cost of all train derailment accidents at $4 million.
The proportion of derailments was slightly higher for “consequent crashes”, which according to CAG include those incidents that result in death or injury, damage to trains or stop rail traffic.
In these crashes, lane departure was the cause of 163 of the 217 reported crashes, about 75% of them.
These figures are much lower than those reported by India’s National Crime Records Agency (NCRB), which, in addition to this type of accident, takes into account other much more common incidents such as “passenger falling off a train” or “car colliding with people on the road”. “.
Two events that accounted for two-thirds of the 16,431 deaths recorded in the nearly 18,000 accidents that occurred in 2021, the latest year for which it has records.
The vast stretch of the Indian rail network, at 68,000 kilometers, means that most of its sections are completely open, which contributes to the collision of trains with people who cross the track without paying attention, or with animals.
Source: Aristegui Noticias
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