At least 179 people were injured when a passenger train hit the derailed coaches of another train in Odisha's Balasore this evening. Many are feared trapped.
Coromandel Express, which was going from Kolkata to Chennai, rammed into the derailed coaches of the other train, which was going from Bengaluru to Kolkata, Railway Ministry spokesperson Amitabh Sharma told NDTV.
Odisha Fire Services chief Sudhanshu Sarangi is supervising rescue operations. Medical colleges and hospitals in and around Balasore have been alerted.
Over a hundred personnel of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and its state counterpart are looking for trapped passengers and cutting through the debris to reach them.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted she is monitoring the situation continually personally with the Chief Secretary and other senior officers.
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