Balasore, Odisha: After a tragic train accident on Friday last week, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrived at Balasore to further investigate the train mishap today. This comes after the Railway board authority on Sunday recommended the probe be handover to the central agency.
Earlier the investigation conducted by the Commissioner of Rail Safety whose report is yet to come out.
While talking to The Indian Express about the reasons for the accident, some railway officials said that Coromandel Express took the loop line instead of the main line and collided with a goods train most likely because of “tampering of the location box” near the Bahanaga Bazar railway station. CBI will further investigate the cause of the accident.
The accident happened on Friday night when three trains including a goods train collided with each other which led to the derailment of several coaches.
The revised official death toll from the train accident is 278 after three more people succumbed to their injuries, reported news agency PTI.
Talking to ANI, the Divisional Railway Manager of the Eastern Central Railway, Rinkesh Roy said there are around 200 people still being treated in the hospital.
101 bodies yet to identified
“About 1,100 people injured in the accident, out of which about 900 people discharged after treatment. Around 200 people are being treated in various hospitals in the state. Out of 278 people who died in the accident, 101 bodies yet to identified,” told Mr Roy to ANI
The dead bodies of the train accident taken to the hospital in Bhubaneswar where their identification is still going on. Around 80 bodies identified, according to the commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.
“Of the total 193 bodies kept in Bhubaneswar, 80 bodies identified. 55 bodies handed over to the relatives. More than 200 calls received on BMC’s helpline number 1929. The dead bodies are being identified and handed over to the relatives.” said Vijay Amrit Commissioner, of Bhubaneshwar Municipal Corporation, told ANI.
Politics heats up over handing over the investigation to CBI of Balasore train accident
CBI’s intervention in the investigation of the Balasore train accident sparked a political row between the opposition and the central government with Congress calling the decision a “Headline Management “ by the government.
Congress general secretary and senior leader, Jairam Ramesh today questioned the handing over of the investigation to CBI before the Commissioner of Railway Safety submitted its report on the train accident.
Mr Ramesh tweeted: “Even before the Commissioner of Railway Safety submitted his report on the Balasore train disaster, a CBI inquiry announced. This is nothing but headlines management has failed to meet deadlines.”
Jairam Ramesh also raised the issue of the Kanpur train accident of 2016 pointing out NIA’s failure to submit the report to this day.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said the CBI probe won’t help.
“I have handled the probe of the Gyaneshwari accident to the CBI to the CBI but the agency couldn’t solve the case, said Mamata after meeting the injured at the state-run SSKM hospital in Kolkata.
To this, senior BJP leader and leader of the opposition in West Bengal, Suvendra Adhikari said TMC is to blamed for the train accident. This incident is TMC’s conspiracy,” Mr Adhikari(ANI). They are behind the incident”.
“Why have they been panicking so much since yesterday when this incident is of another state? Why are they afraid of CBI investigation?”, questioned Adhikari