At least 261 people lost their lives in India’s deadliest rail tragedy in more than two decades when a passenger train skidded off the rails and collided with another in Kalkota the country’s east, according to Reuters.
In the Friday disaster, the passenger train collided with a freight train parked nearby in the district of Balasore in Odisha state, resulting in a tangled wreckage with over 1,000 injuries.
According to an original official report, the tragedy was caused by a possible signal error, elaborated Reuters.
Shortly thereafter, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived on site–not far from Kolkata–and spoke with rescue crews as they surveyed the damage. He plans to visit hospitals and meet with survivors.
Under the disaster compensation plan, families of the deceased are projected to receive one million rupees ($12,000), while the severely injured will get 200,000 rupees, and those afflicted with more moderate injuries are set to receive 50,000 rupees, according to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Some state governments have also announced some supplementary compensation.