Odisha rail accident: 3 NDRF units, over 50 fire services rush towards mishap site

Three units of NDRF over 50 fire services with full equipment have rushed to Odisha's Balasore

Bhubaneswar: Three units of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), over 50 fire services with full equipment have rushed to Odisha’s Balasore, where a passenger train hit the derailed coaches of another train, leaving over 130 people injured.

Taking note of the train mishap in Odisha, State Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena said that the rescue operation is underway.

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“An unfortunate train accident has taken place in Balasore district. As a result, a few bogies of the Coromandel Express have been derailed and some damage to the bogies have been reported. The District Magistrate, the IG of Baleshwar Range, SP Balasore have already reached the site with other senior officials of the District Administration,” Jena said.

He said that chief minister Naveen Patnaik has directed all the officials to coordinate and support the entire relief and rescue operations.

Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express rammed into the derailed coaches of the other train, which was going from Bengaluru to Kolkata in Odisha on Friday evening.

NDRF’s first team of 22 members from Balasore Railway Station (BLS) has already reached the site. Another team from Centralised Traffic Control (CTC) of 32 members started half an hour before, said officials.