BALASORE: A meeting between Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena, along with State Government officials, and Tamil Nadu Government officials was chaired to take stock of the situation in Balasore where at least 261 people were killed in an accident involving three trains.
The meeting was attended by State Governments officials and Tamil Nadu Government officials including Kumar Jain Principle Secretary, of Revenue Tamil Nadu, Sandeep Mittal ADG Tamil Nadu Police and others at the Special Relief Commissioner's office in Odisha.
"We have not got any report of anybody from Tamil Nadu in the identified dead bodies till now. There are a large number of unidentified for which the Railway is running a train from Chennai in the evening," said Kumar Jayant, Tamil Nadu Principal Secretary- Revenue and Disaster Management. "Any family member of passengers who are not in touch with them can take the train and come here to Bhadrak," he said.
According to Railways, the three-way accident on Friday evening led to 261 deaths. The injured have been taken to the Hospitals of Gopalpur, Khantapara, Balasore, Bhadrak, and Soro. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting over the Odisha train accident in the national capital.
The scale of the accident was evident from the visuals of the accident site with some bogeys thrown wide off from the track, crushed or in mangled condition, and belongings of passengers strewn around.
According to a preliminary report released on Saturday by the State Emergency Operation Centre of Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner in Bhubaneswar, the accident took place at around 7 am at Bahanaga Bazar Station in Odisha's Balasore district. Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the rescue operation has been completed and restoration work has started.
"The rescue operation has been completed and restoration work has started. We will thoroughly investigate this incident and will ensure such incidents don't happen in the future," he said.
Odisha has declared a day of mourning in the wake of the accident.