The South Eastern Railway has denied reports that a loco pilot died in the triple train accident in Balasore, adding that he is stable and undergoing treatment in a hospital in Bhubaneswar.
“Some fake news is being spread regarding the death of the loco pilot. The loco pilot is stable and is undergoing treatment in Bhubaneswar,” said Aditya Kumar Chaudhary, CPRO, South Eastern Railway, Balasore. “The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) team is also working at multiple locations including Kharagpur, and Balasore. They are collecting all the information,” he said further.
Giving information about the CBI’s arrival at the site of the crash, Chaudhary said, “Forensic and CBI team is here. They are collecting the evidence and doing their investigation. Railways are providing assistance to them and all possible angles will be probed by CBI during the probe.”
A ten-member CBI team reached the site of the train accident on Tuesday as part of its investigations into the tragedy that took place on 2 June and resulted in the deaths of 275 people.
The CBI is probing the accident that involved two passenger trains and a goods carrier. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday said that the Railway Board had recommended a CBI probe into the tragic accident. The minister had also said that the accident occurred due to a “change in electronic interlocking”.
Electronic interlocking is an arrangement of signal apparatus that facilitates the safe movement of a train through an arrangement of tracks. It does so by giving trains the signal to proceed only when the route is safe. The Indian Railways is also conducting a probe into the accident.