At least 288 people died! Follow up to India Train Accident: 3 Railway Employees Arrested Train | India | Accident
According to Reuters on July 7th, sources familiar with the matter said that Indian federal police arrested three railway employees on June 7th for the country's most serious train accident in 20 years, which resulted in at least 288 deaths.
Sources added that the arrest was carried out in accordance with the provisions of Indian criminal law related to negligent homicide.
According to previous reports by Jimu News, around 19:00 local time on June 2nd, a passenger train from Kolkata to Chennai derailed near the Bahanaja train station in the Parasol region of the Odisha state, with more than 10 carriages scattered around and some carriages falling on opposite tracks. Subsequently, a passenger train from Bangalore to Kolkata came from the opposite track and collided with a derailed carriage, causing several carriages of the train to also derail.
On June 3rd local time, the Indian government confirmed that a train derailment collision that occurred on the evening of June 2nd in the eastern Indian state of Orissa has resulted in at least 288 deaths and over 800 injuries.
Indian Railway Minister Ashvini Vishnau stated that the Railway Safety Commissioner has conducted an investigation into the derailment and collision accident of Indian trains and issued an investigation report, identifying the cause of the accident and the relevant responsible persons. He pointed out that preliminary investigation showed that the accident was caused by a change in the electronic interlocking device.
On July 4th, Reuters reported that an investigation report by the Indian Railway Safety Commission showed that maintenance workers had modified the signal circuit to address the frequent malfunctions at nearby railway level crossings. However, due to the lack of standard circuit diagrams by local railway staff, the signal system was connected incorrectly during maintenance. The malfunctioning system guided the passenger train onto the tracks of the freight train, causing one passenger train to collide with a stationary freight train and then collide with another passenger train from the opposite direction.
According to Indian media reports, in June 1981, a train crashed into a river while passing through a bridge in Bihar, resulting in over 750 deaths, making it the deadliest train accident in India. In August 1995, two trains collided near the Indian capital New Delhi, resulting in over 300 deaths. In August 1999, two trains collided head-on in Assam, resulting in over 285 fatalities.