Modi Vows Severe Punishment For Those Responsible

Topline

At least 288 passengers aboard two trains were killed and 1,000 more were injured in a three-train crash in the Indian state of Odisha Friday, according to local officials, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said those responsible for the disaster “will be punished stringently.”

At least 288 people were killed after three Indian trains collided Friday.

Key Facts

Modi said Saturday the Indian government—which is investigating the disaster—“will leave no stone unturned” to treat the estimated 1,000 passengers injured in the crash, according to the Times of India.

The passenger train Coromandel Express derailed after colliding with a freight train just after 7 p.m. local time Friday, before a second passenger train—the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express—crashed into them, causing 17 coaches from the two passenger trains to derail and become severely damaged, officials told the Hindustan Times.

All injured or trapped passengers were rescued by 6 p.m. local time Saturday, railway officials told the Times of India.

The Odisha state government announced Saturday would be a day of mourning.

India’s Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw—who faces calls for his resignation—announced Friday that injured passengers will be compensated $600 for minor injuries and $2,400 for “grievous injuries,” while the families of those who died will be given over $12,100.

A chopper flies over the site of passenger trains that derailed.

Rescuers work at the site of passenger trains that derailed.

People inspect the site of passenger trains that derailed.

Crucial Quote

Dola Sen, an Indian parliament member from West Bengal, said locals are “all in shock,” adding, “It is very painful. I have never seen in my life such a huge accident on a railway track.”

Surprising Fact

Modi was scheduled to inaugurate a new high-speed train that would connect the Indian cities of Goa and Mumbai Saturday, according to the Associated Press. The new trains are equipped with a new collision avoidance system, which the three trains did not have.

Tangent

The Odisha crash is one of the deadliest train disasters in India’s history, according to the New York Times. A passenger train derailed in 1981 while crossing a bridge in the Indian state of Bihar, killing an estimated 750 passengers. A passenger train crashed into another train in 1995, killing nearly 350 people. A 1999 crash in West Bengal killed 285 passengers. In 2016, 14 train crashes derailed in northeast India and killed more than 140 passengers.

Key Background

Modi, who has served as India’s prime minister since 2014, has campaigned to improve India’s railway system since he was first elected. Nearly 13,200 passenger trains run each day across India, covering an estimated 300 million miles, according to India’s Ministry of Railways. Almost all of India’s railways (98%) were built between 1870 and 1930, according to a 2018 study from the American Economic Review. An average of 475 trains derailed each year between 1980 to 2002, though this decreased to just over 50 between 2011 and 2021, according to the New York Times. Other government officials have responded to the Odisha crash, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said images from the incident “break my heart.” A State Department spokesperson said the U.S. is “monitoring news of the horrific train crash.”