Key takeaways:
- At least 280 people have been killed and hundreds more injured in one of India’s deadliest rail crashes in decades.
- Rescuers scrambled to free passengers and recover bodies from the mangled wreckage of two passenger trains that had derailed.
- The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but officials have ruled out sabotage.
At least 280 people have been killed and hundreds more injured in one of India’s deadliest rail crashes in decades. The accident occurred on Friday night in the eastern state of Odisha, about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Kolkata.
Rescuers scrambled to free passengers and recover bodies from the mangled wreckage of two passenger trains that had derailed. Desperate rescuers used cutting torches to break open doors and windows of the overturned rail cars.
Scenes of chaos ensued as scores of bodies, covered by white sheets, lay on the ground near the tracks. People were seen trying to escape from toppled compartments.
The death toll rose steadily throughout the night, with 900 people injured in the accident, according to P.K. Jena, the top bureaucrat in the eastern state of Odisha. By 10 p.m. on Friday, all survivors had been rescued.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but officials have ruled out sabotage. The accident is the latest in a string of deadly rail accidents in India, where the railway system is the world’s fourth largest but is poorly funded and operates with outdated technology.
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