6 numbers that tell the tale of Odisha triple train tragedy

As full-scale restoration operations continue at Odisha's Balasore, where two passenger trains collided with a goods train on Friday (June 2), leaving hundreds of passengers dead, it has now come to the fore that the death toll in the tragedy is 275 and not 288. The miscalculation happened after some bodies were counted twice. Authorities, after checking the data and matching the bodies, found that 13 people were counted extra, and the real number of people who had succumbed to the tragedy is 275. 

Numbers that tell the tale 

1. Death toll

The three-train accident that happened in Odisha's Balasore district killed at least 275 passengers who were travelling to different locations via Coromandel Express and the Yashwantpur Express. In the incident, over 1000 people have also been injured. The injured victims have been admitted to hospitals across Balasore, Cuttack and Bahanaga among other cities.

2. Train speed

As per the information accessed by Republic, the Coromandel Express was running at a speed of 128 km/h, while the Yashwantpur Express was moving at a speed of 126 km/h when it collided with a stationary freight train.

Railway official Jaya Verma Sinha, a senior railway official, said the preliminary investigations revealed that a signal was given to the high-speed Coromandel Express to run on the main track line, but the signal later changed, and the train instead entered an adjacent loop line where it rammed into a freight loaded with iron ore.

3. Reservations

A total of 2,296 seats were reserved for the passengers who were travelling on both trains on June 2 (Friday). Many people were also travelling in general coaches. The railway board said that the goods train that was involved in the crash was carrying iron ore

4. Injured passengers' status

As many as 1175 injured passengers have been hospitalised. After receiving treatment, as many as 973 patients have been discharged from hospitals. Due to serious injuries sustained after the collision of the trains, a total of 382 passengers are currently undergoing treatment.

5. Derailment of coaches

At least 23 coaches derailed near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station in the Balasore district of Odisha at around 6.55 pm on Friday. On Sunday, a few shattered carriages, mangled and overturned, were the only remnants of the tragedy. Railway workers toiled under the sun’s glare to lay down blocks of cement to fix the broken tracks. A crew with excavators was removing mud and the debris to clear the crash site.

6. Number of trains involved in accident

The accident involved three trains. Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, Howrah Yesvantpur Express & a goods train. The collision flipped Coromandel Express’s coaches onto another track, causing the incoming Yesvantpur-Howrah Express from the opposite side also to derail.