Huge cranes and bulldozers have been brought in to raise a coach which has been buried by the impact of another wagon falling on it, as rescue workers wield gas torches and electric cutters to pull out survivors and the dead from the mangled steel of three trains that derailed one on top of another in a horrific sequence, killing at least 238 people and injuring more than 900 in Odisha’s Balasore district, officials and witnesses said Saturday.

Officials in Bhubaneswar said 200 ambulances, 50 buses and 45 mobile health units were working at the accident site, besides 1,200 personnel. The bodies were being taken to the hospitals in all kinds of vehicles, including tractors.

“Death toll in the Balasore Train Accident has risen to 238,” Odisha Chief Secretary PK Jena told newspersons at the Odisha state secretariat in Bhubaneshwar Saturday.

The train crash, the fourth deadliest in India according to available records, happened near the Bahanaga Baazar station in Balasore district, about 250 km south of Kolkata and 170 km north of Bhubaneswar, around 7 pm on Friday, prompting the Railway Ministry to order a probe.

The inquiry into the train accident will be led by A M Chowdhary, Commissioner Railway Safety, South East Circle, the Indian Railways said in a statement. The Commissioner Railway Safety comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

While it is not clear what caused the crash, sources indicate a possible signalling failure.

Several coaches of the 12864 Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express, on the way to Howrah, derailed and fell on adjacent tracks, an official said.

“These derailed coaches collided with the 12841 Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express and its coaches capsized too,” he said.

A goods train was also involved in the accident as some of the coaches of the Coromandel Express, which was heading to Chennai, hit its wagons after getting derailed, he added

Railway Spokesperson Amitabh Sharma told PTI Video that the Coromandel Express derailed first, and its 10-12 coaches fell on the line on which the Bengaluru-Howrah Express was travelling, forcing it to jump off the tracks.

The differing versions of the accident could not be immediately reconciled.

The opposition while expressing condolences at the deaths which occurred in one of India’s worst train disaster, also lashed out at the government.

“Government concentrates only on luxury trains. Trains and tracks of common people are neglected. Orissa deaths are the result of it. Rail minister should resign,” CPI MP Binoy Viswam said in a tweet.

Gas cutters were used to extricate the bodies from under the derailed coaches. Disaster management personnel and firemen were busy at work trying to extricate bodies as dawn broke on this tiny way station on the east coast railway line.

From a nearby hill the accident site looked like as if a powerful whirlwind had thrown train coaches on top of each other, in a haphazard “wrathful” manner.

Closer to the ground mangled steel and bloodied and disfigured bodies lay enmeshed with each other creating a grotesque sight.

“Some of the scenes at the site were too gory to describe,” said a passenger.

Railway tracks were almost destroyed at the spot as mangled coaches lay strewn all over, with some having mounted on another, while a few coaches turned turtle due to the impact.

Pijush Poddar, a resident of Berhampore in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, was travelling to Tamil Nadu in the Coromandel Express to join work there when the accident happened.

“We were jolted and suddenly saw the train bogie turn on one side. Many of us were thrown out of the compartment by the momentum of the derailment. When we managed to crawl out, we found bodies lying all around,” he said.

Locals said they heard consecutive loud sounds, following which they rushed to the spot and found the derailed coaches, which were nothing but “a mangled heap of steel”.

“The local people really went out on a limb to help us… They not only helped in pulling out people but retrieved our luggage and got us water, ” Rupam Banerjee, one of the passengers, told reporters.

One of the coaches “was pushed into the ground ” as another from a neighbouring train collapsed on top of it, passengers said.

Work is on to try and extricate that particular bogie and retrieve the dead in it. “This will push up the death toll significantly,” a state disaster relief officer said.

Balasore district hospital looked like a war zone with the injured lying on stretchers in the corridor and rooms bursting at its seams with extra beds propped up.

Harried medical staff were seen trying to bring succour to patients many of whom are from states other than Odisha and had difficulties in communicating. In all some 526 railway accident victims have been admitted to this one single hospital.

Policemen and locals have been volunteering to donate blood at this and many hospitals through the night, said officials. More than 2,000 people gathered at the Balasore Medical College and Hospital in the night to help the injured, and many also donated blood, officials said.

The morgue at the hospital was a pile of white shrouded bodies, many of them yet to be identified as relatives are yet to make their way to the town with many train services cancelled or delayed due to the accident on a major railway trunk route.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik declared one-day state mourning on Saturday in the wake of the deadly triple train crash.

State Special Relief Commissioner Satyabrata Sahoo said those injured in the accident were undergoing treatment in different hospitals.

All government and private hospitals in the nearby districts, including the AIIMS at Bhubaneswar are being used.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reached the site in the morning as did Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

The railways announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased, Rs 2 lakh for those grievously injured and Rs 50,000 for those who got minor injuries.

Railway officials in Bengaluru on Saturday said as per the latest information available, no one from the reserved coaches got injured or died, while few passengers from the General Seating (GS) coach had some injuries.

The overturned GS and SLRD (Brake Van) coaches are still being restored and rescue works are on, they said.

Officials of the South Western Railways (SWR) here said 994 reserved and around 300 unreserved passengers are estimated to have boarded the Bengaluru-Howrah Superfast Express from Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal (SMVB) in the city.

It is learnt that 2 GS coaches and Brake Van of the express train that left from SMVB derailed, they said, “As they were unreserved coaches, it will take some time to ascertain identity of passengers. In reserved coaches, details of passengers including contact number are available in the database as they are registered during reservation of ticket.”

Upon receipt of more updates, more details would be shared with the public, they added.

According to an update available from Balasore, officials said the unaffected portion of the train with passengers has left towards its destination — Howrah.

“The unaffected portion of Tr.No.12864 (engine plus 20 coaches) on being given fit to run with speed restriction of 10 kmph at 00.58 hrs. and the rake arrived at Balasore at 03.42 hrs,” the update said.

After detaching the damaged coach from the rake at Balasore, the remaining 19 coaches with passengers onboard left Balasore at 05.08 am and continued its onward journey towards Howrah, the express train’s destination, with speed restriction of 40 kmph, the update further said.