President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov today sent sincere condolences to the President of the Republic of India, Ms. Draupadi Murma, and the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Narendra Modi, in connection with the railway accident in the state of Odisha, which led to numerous casualties and injuries, the Turkmen television news program Watan reported.

On behalf of the people and the Government of Turkmenistan, as well as on his own behalf, the head of state conveyed words of deep compassion and support at this difficult moment to the families and friends of the victims and wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured.

The railway accident near the city of Belasor occurred on June 2 at 18:52 local time. Due to a faulty relay, a Coromandel Express en route to Chennai with about 1 500 passengers ended up on the same track as a freight train at Bahanaga Bazaar station. Due to the high speed, several carriages of the passenger train derailed and blocked the adjacent track, where four minutes later another express train appeared, heading from Bangalore to Kolkata. There was a tragic coincidence, since this train was supposed to proceed two and a half hours earlier, but it was late and rammed the cars that had gone off the tracks, as a result of which there were an order of magnitude more victims. According to the latest data, 294 people died in the accident, about 900 were injured, reports Hindustan Times.

In terms of the number of victims, this disaster ranks third in the history of railway accidents in India. The most massive accident occurred on June 6, 1981 in the state of Bihar, when a passenger train fell from a bridge into a river, killing between 750 and 800 people.