Odisha tragedy: NDRF DIG Mohsen Shahidi speaks to Republic as restoration work underway

A horrifying railway accident in Odisha on June 2 resulted in at least 275 fatalities and 900 injuries. The Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, and a cargo train were all involved in the railway accident. Multiple teams of NDRF, IAF and other state forces were forced to the site. 

NDRF DIG Mohsen Shahidi in coversation with Republic said, “As we all know the big tragedy that has occurred yesterday has activated all the elements of disaster response and we got this information, we immediately mobilised one team from the regional response centre at Balasore which is about 35 km from the incident site. That team immediately rushed, it was there at about 2030 hours. Subsequently, we moved another six teams from battalion headquarters of third battalion NDRF.”

He further stated, “So seeing the gravity of the situation and the necessity for the continuity throughout in night, we also moved two teams from Kolkata from another state and they also joined these troops early in the morning. So far the information we have from the state operation centre in Orissa is that 275 dead bodies have been recovered and more than 1000 are injured in the operation,”

“The operation is in the last stages with one bogie that is mangled. It is a complex process and is taking time,” NDRF DIG Mohsen Shahidi told Republic.

NDRF IG Narendra Singh Bundela in coversation with Republic at the Balasore Collision Site, stated, “Three trains were involved. Cutting through them to extricate the victims was a challenge,”

“NDRF had been working for almost 24 hours, local state police forces, state disaster response force, fire services, district administration and biggest volunteers from nearby, these are all contributing to save lives. So almost all the live victims have been taken care of have been sent to the hospitals. Only thing what we are trying to do is locate if any dead body is still lying somewhere under one or two coaches which really got mingled so that we could not approach them earlier” he continued. 

According to Railways spokesperson Amitabh Sharma, the Coromandel Express was the first to derail, and its 10-12 coaches collided with the line on which the Bengaluru-Howrah Express was moving, forcing it to derail off the tracks. 

The accident site was visited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who then proceeded to the Balasore hospital to meet the injured. To assess the situation in Odisha, PM Modi also convened a high-level meeting of senior railway authorities.