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The police are investigating possible criminal negligence. A railway authority had recommended that the police investigate accordingly, as local media reported on Monday. According to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the cause of the accident was probably a fault in the electrical signal.

The political opposition accused the government of drawing attention to a possible criminal background instead of taking responsibility for safety problems at the railway. She called on the railway minister to resign.

Dozens of bodies were still unidentified as of Monday, Odisha state chief Pradeep Kumar Jena said. Many relatives tried to identify the victims, some of whom were severely disfigured, in several morgues.

Three trains collided on Friday in the eastern Indian state of Odisha near the city of Balasore. As the newspaper “Times of India” reported, citing the preliminary results of the investigation, an express train crashed into a parked freight train due to a fault in the electronic signaling system. Three wagons were thrown onto adjacent tracks and hit the rear of another express train.

The administration of the state of Odisha gave the number of registered deaths on Monday at 275. The previously higher number can be explained by the fact that some victims were erroneously counted twice. Of the 1,175 injured, 382 continued to be treated in hospital. It is feared that the death toll might rise due to overwhelmed medical facilities and serious injuries.

The Bundesliga gets another derby in Linz. Blau-Weiß Linz surpassed GAK in a dramatic season finale in the second division on Sunday and will be able to prove themselves once morest LASK in the upper house from July. The game will then be played in the new Hofmann Personal Stadium, which can accommodate 5,500 fans. Managing Director Christoph Peschek spoke in a hoarse voice following the celebrations on Monday.

Almost every minute, an ambulance siren outside Fakir Mohan Medical College and Hospital announced the arrival of a new batch of mostly seriously injured people in the state of Odisha, in east of the country.

The doctors had to make diagnoses in an emergency, hoping to save some and lowering their arms for others.

“State of War”

“All the patients had severe trauma, with head injuries, amputated limbs, chest injuries and breathing difficulties,” said the 35-year-old doctor.

Others were on the verge of death when some had already expired. Saving lives was the priority. “But there was too much haste,” he regrets.

Teams “had to decide who to give the highest priority,” he admits, meaning who had the greatest chance of survival.

“We must not say it but, as a doctor, we know when a patient will not survive,” he confides.

Friday went as usual when all medical staff received a requisition message, even calling on people on leave to go to the hospital immediately.

The doctor knew it was a train accident but he did not expect this magnitude, “might not have imagined it”.

He “worked tirelessly as the evening turned into night and then the next day as well”.

Medical teams attended to “400 to 500” people on Friday night, he said, “although we didn’t count but the ambulances were pouring in”.

“We stabilized the patients and sent them to intensive care. The less critical cases were transferred to orthopedics,” he continues, “anyone with head and chest injuries was taken to surgery.”

Life-saving blood donations

Blood donations by townspeople organized at midnight “really helped”, he says, as well as the supply department which worked through the night to ensure that all the necessary drugs were available.

At least 275 people died in the crash and of the 1,175 injured, 382 were still being treated in various state hospitals as of Monday.

Those in critical condition have been transferred to larger, better-equipped hospitals in the state capital, Bhubaneswar, but many have been admitted to Balasore hospital.

On Monday, it was still crowded with survivors and relatives looking for loved ones, besides the ordinary sick.

Local medical staff have continued to work overtime since the collision and it will take a few more days for the situation to stabilize.

It was the day off for Kshitiz Guglani, a 25-year-old orthopedic surgeon, requisitioned like the other staff. He’s barely given himself a break since.

Most “patients have polytrauma,” he says.

Anil Marandi, 29, a laborer from a tribe in Jharkhand, showed staff at the main assistance office passport photos of his brother, brother-in-law and a friend, who were traveling in one express trains.

“I have only found two bodies so far,” he said in tears. “I’m still looking for the third one.”