Glimpses of the tragic aftermath following last Friday's triple train collision in Odisha's Balasore district.
'It was a sight that I will never forget. God help the families. My condolences'
In 2021, the Railways boasted of a historic feat -- no passenger deaths in train accidents in two years. However, the derailment of the Bikaner-Guwahati Express in 2022 brought the Railways back to its forgetful past.
2016: On November 20, the Indore-Patna Express 19321 derailed close to Pukhrayan in Kanpur, India, killing at least 150 passengers and injuring more than 150.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled central government alleging that there were attempts to suppress the cause of the train accident in Odisha.
As the year 2023 comes to an end, a look at some newsy events that shaped the world in the first half of the year.
Odisha train crash is one of the deadliest such accidents since independence.
The MRSAMs were test-fired from the Integrated Test Range launch pad-III at Chandipur near here before noon
In the chair was Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader of the old school with friends across parties unlike the duo who currently run the BJP.
'I do not say 100 per cent, but many of them are dacoits'
Despite the hope that lessons will be learnt, the next accident invariably shows that nothing has been learnt -- or if learnt, they have been ignored, observes Prosenjit Datta.
A thorough probe is underway, none of the authorities has so far talked about any possibility of a sabotage.
This MRSAM version is a surface-to-air missile developed jointly by DRDO and Israel Aerospace Industries for use by the Indian Army.
The Railway Board also said several infrastructure projects are under progress with stringent targets and officers and staffers on the field need to be sensitised that the integrity of the signalling system is of utmost importance from a safety point of view.
'Because of the callous attitude of the railway administration, they don't take care of safety.'
The railways has initiated a high-level probe into the train crash in Odisha to be headed by the commissioner of railway safety, South Eastern Circle.
Container Corporation of India (Concor) has been the worst performer among major logistics & port stocks registering returns of about 4 per cent over the past three months as compared to 10-12 per cent for peers Gateway Distriparks and Adani Ports and SEZ. Uncertain outlook on the export-import (EXIM) trade front, market share loss, lack of progress on divestment, and weak June quarter results weighed on the stock. Volume and margin movement will be key triggers for the stock going ahead. As was the case in the previous quarter, margin performance was muted even in the June quarter. Operating profit in the quarter was down 17 per cent at Rs 391 crore missing estimates by over 15 per cent. Operating profit margins at 20.4 per cent, too, were down sharply by 350 basis points over the year-ago quarter.
The solid-fuel, battlefield missile developed by Defence Research Development Organisation is based on Prithvi Defence Vehicle from the Indian ballistic missile programme.
In his letter to Modi, Kharge hit out at the railway minister for seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, saying the law enforcement agency is meant to investigate crimes, not railway accidents.
The quick reaction surface-to-air-missile missile developed by DRDO was test launched from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near here at about 3.08 pm from a vertical launcher against an electronic target at a very low altitude.
The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal demanded Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's resignation over the horrific triple train crash in neighbouring Odisha.
The railways initially called a team from the Unique Identification Authority of India to the site to take thumbprints of the dead to ascertain their identity.
The missile was fired from a ground mobile launcher at launch pad number-1 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) near here at 3.55 pm, and it hit the target with accuracy, the sources said.
The Opposition party asked whether the prime minister will take responsibility for the 'deadliest rail tragedy' of this century.
'Imagine what will happen when a train running at 128 kmph moves onto a track that is meant to have only a speed less than 30 kmph!' 'Naturally, it will derail, and the coaches will go for a tailspin.'
The extended range of the missile which is part of the Strategic Forces Command will give a variety of options to the planners during times of conflict.
The location of the landfall is north of Dhamra and south of Bahanaga, close to Bahanaga block, on the coast, around 50 km of Balasore, he said.
'Yaas' is likely to cross the Odisha-West Bengal coasts between Paradip and Sagar Islands around noon on May 26 as a very severe cyclonic storm with wind speeds of 155-165 kmph, Kolkata's Regional Meteorological Centre Deputy Director Sanjib Bandopadhyay said.
The missile is India's first indigenously developed anti-radiation missile that has speed of Mach two or twice the speed of sound.
The system lay centered at 5.30 am over Southeast Bay of Bengal, about 450 km west-northwest of Car Nicobar (Nicobar Islands), 380 km west of Port Blair (Andaman Islands), 970 km southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 1030 km south-southeast of Puri (Odisha).
The IMD has also issued a red-coded warning alert to the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.
IMD Director General Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said that 'Yaas' is likely to intensify into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm by Tuesday evening and Chandbali is likely to witness the maximum damage caused by it.
The 51-year-old BJP leader Vaishnaw, born in Rajasthan's Jodhpur, is a suave and former Odisha cadre IAS officer from the 1994 batch. He managed to wrangle support from the ruling BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik despite being in the rival camp.
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As the train which started from Howrah slowed down as a mark of caution running across freshly repaired tracks, a few muttered 'Jagannath, Jagannath', the name of the presiding deity of Puri, the destination of the train, but most were too stunned to speak.
On both the occasions, the missiles intercepted the simulated targets with pinpoint accuracy. The missiles were tested for minimum and maximum range.
Only a small percentage of passengers who traveled on the trains involved in the June 2, 2023 accident in Odisha had availed of travel accident insurance while booking their tickets online on the IRCTC portal.
The orange alert has been issued for moderate or heavy thunderstorms and wind speed with 30-40 km per hour to reach some districts of Odisha within the next three hours.
The weather system moved west-northwestward and concentrated into a depression on Saturday at 8.30am, close to west of Andaman Islands, the bulletin said.
'We don't know how and why this happened as the route interlock signal works fine millions of times every day across India.'
