Balasore (Odisha): The death toll in Friday's triple train accident at Bahanaga Bazar in Odisha's Balasore rose to 288 even as work to remove mangled coaches and repair tracks at the site started in full swing, a railway official said.
Three trains -- 12841 Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express and a goods train -- were involved in the accident, one of the worst railway tragedies in the country. Citing reports available till late afternoon Saturday, the official said 288 people were killed in the accident.
"A total of 1,175 people were admitted to hospitals, including private establishments, and of them, 793 were discharged while 382 are undergoing treatment and barring two who are critical, the condition of the remaining is stated to be stable," he said. The two express trains were carrying more than 2,200 passengers with reserved tickets, he added.
The railways said that the 12841 Coromandel Express while passing through the Up main line met with an accident and dashed with a stationary goods train in a loop line at Bahanaga Bazar station, situated about 280 km from Howrah and 171 km from Bhubaneswar. A loop line is a railway track connected at either end to a main line, to which trains can be diverted to allow others to pass.
The impact was such that 21 coaches of the train, which was travelling at full speed since it was not supposed to stop at the station, were derailed, with three coaches falling on a neighbouring track, through which the 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah express was simultaneously passing in the opposite direction, the railways said.
