Three passengers were killed when eight wagons of an empty goods train jumped off track and rammed into Korai Station in Jajpur district early on Monday.
The victims, all women including a mother and daughter lost their lives while two others were seriously injured in the accident.
The goods train from Kharagpur, was on its way to Chhatrapur. The first few wagons of the train had passed the station when eight wagons out of the 54 wagons collided into the station.
The collision was so powerful that one wagon rammed into a railway foot-over bridge while some others hit the passenger waiting shed. Locals and other passengers rushed to rescue victims trapped under damaged roof. They were first shifted to a local hospital and later to district headquarter hospital of Jajpur.
The victims were identified as Kandhei Bindhani, her mother Parbati Bindhani and Afzul Bibi.
The train derailment caused chaos along the Howrah-Chennai mainline during the morning rush hour. Fifteen passenger trains were cancelled, 21 trains were diverted and six were partially cancelled. More than 200 long distance passengers were accommodated in Hyderabad-Shalimar East Coast Express for their journey. Similarly, 45 local passengers were provided with free road transport to reach their destinations at Chandikhole, Jajpur Keonjhar Road, Bhadrak and Balasore.
Top East Coast Railway officialssupervised the restoration work. Ministry of Railways ordered inquiry at the level of Commissioner of Railway Safety into the train derailment. It also announced ₹5 lakh solatium for kin of the deceased. The Odisha government would provide ₹2 lakh from its side.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed grief at the loss of lives and conveyed his deep sympathy to the bereaved families.
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