Balasore Train Crash: 'Electrocution may have killed 40 in Coromandel Express'

According to a supervising police officer involved in the rescue operation, around 40 bodies recovered from the derailed carriages of the Coromandel Express, which was part of the triple train crash in Balasore, Odisha, may have been electrocuted due to snapped overhead cables. These individuals did not show any external injuries.

“While several bodies were disfigured beyond recognition, there were around 40 with no visible injury marks or bleeding from anywhere. Many of these deaths were presumably from electrocution,” Police revealed.

The supervising police officer's statement aligns with the First Information Report (FIR), which states that several deaths were caused by electrocution when live overhead cables fell onto the compartments.


“Many passengers succumbed to injuries caused due to the collision and electrocution (after) coming in contact with overhead LT (low tension) line,” states the FIR lodged by Government Railway Police (GRP) sub-inspector Papu Kumar Naik around 1am Saturday.

The cables reportedly broke after the Yeshwantpur (Bengaluru)-Howrah Express collided with the derailed carriages of the Coromandel Express at 6:55 pm on Friday. The train bound for Chennai derailed and collided with a stationary freight train from the rear.

Purna Chandra Mishra, a former chief operations manager of East Coast Railway, suggested that the individuals who were electrocuted may have been in contact with certain parts of the train carriages at the precise moment when the overhead electric cables made contact.

Initially, the Government Railway Police (GRP) registered a case of death due to negligence (Section 304-A of the IPC) against unidentified individuals and appointed a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP)-ranked officer to lead the investigation into the train tragedy. The investigation was later handed over to the CBI. Ranjeet Nayak, the sub-divisional railway police officer of Cuttack, was assigned the initial probe based on a complaint filed approximately six hours after the accident.

“At present, culpability of specific railway employees has not been ascertained,” the FIR states.

Inputs from TOI