Odisha triple train tragedy kills 120 | List of deadliest train mishaps in Indian history

The Shalimar to Chennai Central Coromandel Express met with a deadly accident in Balasore, Odisha on Friday at around 7 pm, and several bogeys of the train overturned. As per officials, over 120 people have died in the accident and over 350 people have been injured. After the Coromandel train derailed, another passenger train and a goods train hit the derailed bogies of the Coromandel Express resulting in major devastation at the accident spot. 

The Union government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of the deceased, Rs 2 lakh for grievously injured persons, and Rs 50,000 for minor injuries. The Odisha mishap is among the most deadly train accidents in the nation's history, here is a detailed list of the deadliest train accidents in India's history.

Deadliest train accidents in Indian history

1) 1981: In the Indian state of Bihar, on June 6, a passenger train carrying more than 800 passengers between Mansi (Dhamara Pul) and Saharsa derailed and plunged into the river Bagmati while it was crossing a bridge, killing 500 people.

2) 1995: The Firozabad rail disaster occurred on August 20 near Firozabad on the Delhi-Kanpur section of India's Northern Railway, at 02:55 when a passenger train collided with a train that had stopped after hitting a nilgai, killing 358 people.

3) 1998: The Khanna rail disaster occurred on November 26 near the Khanna-Ludhiana section of India's Northern Railway in Punjab, at 03:15 when the Calcutta-bound Jammu Tawi-Sealdah Express collided with six derailed coaches of the Amritsar-bound "Frontier Mail" which were lying in its path, 212 people were killed.

4) 1999: The Gaisal train disaster took place on August 2, 1999, when two trains carrying about 2,500 people collided at the remote station of Gaisal in West Bengal. Owing to a signalling error, both trains were using the same track on a day when three of the four tracks on the line were closed for maintenance. Their combined speeds were so high that the trains exploded on impact, killing at least 290 people. 

5) 2002: The Rafiganj rail disaster was the derailment of a train on a bridge over the Dhave River in North-Central India, on 10 September. At least 140 people were killed in the accident, which was reportedly due to sabotage by a local Maoist terrorist group, the Naxalites.

6) 2005: The Valigonda rail disaster occurred on 29 October near the town of Valigonda, south of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. A flash flood swept away a small rail bridge, and a "Delta Fast Passenger" train travelling on it derailed at the broken section of the line, killing at least 114 people and injuring over 200.

7) 2016: On November 20, the Indore-Patna Express 19321 derailed close to Pukhrayan in Kanpur, India, killing at least 150 passengers and injuring more than 150.

8) 2023: On June 2, at least 70 people were killed and more than 350 injured in a horrific triple train crash in Odisha involving the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, and a goods train.