PM Modi to visit train accident site, hospital in Odisha

NEW DELHI (TIP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Saturday, June 3 visit the site of the train accident in Odisha and also the Cuttack hospital where the injured are being treated.
At least 238 people were killed and around 900 were injured in a horrific three-train collision in Odisha’s Balasore, officials said Saturday, June 3, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said a high-level committee will be set up to investigate the train crash.
The crash involved the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express, and a goods train.
The accident saw one train ram so hard into another that carriages were lifted high into the air, twisting and then smashing off the tracks. Another carriage had been tossed entirely onto its roof, crushing the passenger section.
“The rescue operation has been completed, now we are starting the restoration work,” Amitabh Sharma, Railways Spokesperson, said. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has declared one-day state mourning in view of the horrific train crash. Vaishnaw has also announced compensation of Rs 10 lakh for those who have died, Rs 2 lakh for those seriously injured and Rs 50,000 for those who sustained minor injuries in the accident.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi too expressed his distress over the accident, and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the family of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured from the PM’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF).