By Saturday morning, the death toll has risen to 238 in the June 2 collisions in which the 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, on its way to Howrah, derailed and fell on adjacent tracks at Bahanaga Bazar of the South Eastern Railway in Balasore. The incident took place at 7.10 pm aroun
"As per the information received till now, there are 238 casualties. Around 650 injured passengers have been taken to the Hospitals of Gopalpur, Khantapara, Balasore, Bhadrak and Soro," the South Eastern Railway said.
Apart from that the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party has cancelled all its events scheduled for today to celebrate the former Chief Minister Kalaingar Karunanithi's centenary, according to a party source.
Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw arrived at the accident spot in Odisha's Balasore where three trains collided on Friday claiming the lives of 233 people and injuring around 900.
The office of the Nepal Prime Minister tweeted, "I'm saddened by the loss of dozens of lives in a train accident in Odisha, India today. I extend deep condolences to Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji, Government, and the bereaved families in this hour of grief."
"We can't bring back the ones we have lost in this accident but will provide all possible help to the Railways as well as the state government. We will try to provide relief to as many distressed persons as possible," the BJP's Bengal chief added.
"I have issued an order for a high-level probe to find out why this derailment happened. It is important to get to the root cause of this tragic accident," said the Railways minister.
He said, "Vande Bharat trains will start covering all the states by June. We have a target to connect 200 cities with Vande Bharat by the middle of next year. Production work is going at a fast pace for the implementation of the project."