At least 50 dead, 300 injured in train collision in India’s Odisha state

At least 50 people were killed and 300 hospitalised in India after a passenger train derailed and collided with goods train in Odisha’s Balasore district on Friday, according to media reports.

Rescue operations were underway at the site and “all possible assistance” is being given to those affected, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet on Friday.

The collision is a “grave accident”, HK Dwivedi, West Bengal’s chief secretary told reporters.

South Eastern Railway officials, who did not want to be named, said they fear heavy casualties, without disclosing the number of deaths.

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The Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, derailed and fell on the opposite track, with many people still trapped, the reports said.

“I can’t comment on the details right now and casualty figures. I was in Delhi and rushing to the accident site,” Archana Joshi, general manager for South Eastern Railways, told Reuters.

Joshi said a large number of injured were being shifted to hospitals.

“Railway rescue teams from Kharagpur and other nearby stations have already reached the site. Relief and rescue are underway.”