NEW DELHI: Several countries on Saturday offered condolences over the train crash in eastern India as the death toll neared 300.
Turkiye, Britain, Pakistan, the European Union, Australia and Sri Lanka were among the countries expressing sympathy over the deadliest train accident in India in two decades.
“I am deeply saddened by the news of the loss of many precious lives and the injuries in the train accident in the state of Odisha,“ Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
“The people of India are in our thoughts in this time of sorrow. Europe mourns with you,“ European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
“The images and reports of the train crash in Odisha, India break my heart. I’m sending my deepest condolences to those who lost loved ones, and I’m keeping the injured in my thoughts,“ Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a meeting attended by Home Minister Amit Shah and senior officials to discuss the aftermath of the collision between the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express and the Yesvantpur-Howrah Superfast trains in Odisha’s Balasore district on Friday evening.
“Aspects relating to rescue, relief and medical attention to those affected were discussed in the review meeting,“ the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Modi later travelled to Odisha to “review the situation in the wake of the train mishap.”
Hundreds of rescuers, 200 ambulances, 50 buses and 45 mobile health units worked at the accident site, local media reported.
“A high-level committee will look into the root cause of this train accident,“ Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters on Saturday.
The death toll was 300 and the number of injured passengers was more than 900.
This is the third deadliest train accident ever in India.
About 800 people died in India’s worst rail accident in 1981 when many coaches fell into a river in the eastern state of Bihar.
In 1995, at least 358 people were killed when two trains collided in Uttar Pradesh state’s Firozabad district.
More than 285 people were killed in 1999 when two trains collided in West Bengal state.
Friday’s accident has shocked the country, with many demanding better funding and safety standards for the 67,000-km track network.
Some political leaders pointed out that the rail budget earlier was managed separately and the railway minister’s profile used to be “high” in the Cabinet.
The Indian government discontinued the practice of separate national and railway budgets in 2017.
Critics also consider the current railway minister as having a lower public profile than those who held the post in recent years.
“We have many questions to ask of the prime minister and the railway minister but those can wait since the immediate task is of rescue and relief,“ Indian National Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said.-Bernama
