Railway Board seeks CBI inquiry into train accident in Balasore, Odisha; death toll revised to 275

The Railway Ministry has recommended CBI inquiry into Friday's tragic train accident with Coromandel Express at Bahanga in Balasore district of Odisha. Talking to the media in Balasore,  Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the Railway Board has recommended for CBI inquiry to find out the root cause of the accident and persons responsible for the same.

Mr Vaihsnaw said, restoration work is going on and normal train services would resume by Wednesday morning. Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena today said the death toll in the tragedy has been revised to 275 after accounting for certain 'double counts'. 

The state is facing a morgue crunch as a large number of unclaimed dead bodies have piled up at different mortuaries. Many bodies have been



kept at AIIMS, Bhubaneswar and a few others in several hospitals in the state capital.

 

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and  Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan visited the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack and enquired about the health condition of the injured.

Meanwhile, a special train started from Bhadrak this afternoon that would run upto Chennai on the Coromandel Express route for the stranded passengers and their relatives. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced a free bus service to Kolkata from Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. This special arrangement would continue till restoration of normal train services on the accident route.