According to Tamil Nadu’s government, the chief minister is reviewing the situation, efforts are being made to identify the victims of the train crash

The government of Tamil Nadu is working to identify victims of the accident, but no official report on the injuries or death toll specific to the state has been received from the government of Odisha, Additional Chief Secretary of the Revenue Department Kumar Jayant said on Saturday. Three survivors of the train accident in Balasore, Odisha, have returned to Chennai.

When the wounded arrive on June 4, Chief Minister M. K. Stalin inspected the readiness of the government apparatus, particularly the medical staff, to handle the crisis and treat the patients.

About 250 individuals boarded a special train from Bhadrak and travelled south, namely to Chennai. Anyone who is able to travel has thus relocated. The death of travellers from Tamil Nadu has not been reported to us, Jayant added. He informed reporters in Odisha that attempts are now being made to identify the corpses.

“Many unidentified corpses were found. We are looking, but we have no idea where they went. We’re looking for the precise figures. What percentage are from Tennessee is unknown. However, it is clear from the list of passengers’ names that many may not be from our state, according to Jayant, one of the two senior bureaucrats from Tamil Nadu who visited the accident site with Transport Minister S. S. Sivashankar and Youth Welfare and Sports Development Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.

The other senior official who has travelled to Balasore alongside the ministers to coordinate the rescue efforts is Additional Chief Secretary of the Transport Department K Phanindra Reddy, as per directions from Chief Minister Stalin.

The number of dead in the disaster at Balasore is likely to be far greater than reported at this time, according to three passengers from the train wreck in Odisha who came here on Saturday. This is because the unreserved compartments were full with largely migrant labourers travelling to Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Nagendran, a Ramanathapuram native who now resides in Kolkata and works as a passenger, was travelling on the Shalimar-Chennai Central Coromandel Express when it was involved in an accident and landed at the airport in Chennai this afternoon. “I thought I was going to die the moment the accident happened,” he said. I took the Coromandel Express yesterday from Kolkata to Chennai. The incident took place close to Balasore.

Numerous people survived because the Coromandel train driver hit the brakes when he saw the cargo train, the guy said. The severely impacted vehicles were the sleeper and general cars.

“I was in the AC coach’s B1 cabin. The compartments B1 through B4 were unaffected. The B5 bus had sputtered… First to come and provide assistance were volunteers. Everything was pitch black. Nothing was visible to us plainly.We were all shocked that we had escaped while so many people perished in the AC coaches, he remarked.

We felt the train derail, a teenage passenger who landed at Chennai Airport informed reporters. The lights started to sputter. Smoke was present. How many trains were involved is unknown to me. We felt afraid. The people in the compartment were secure. Some people picked up minor wounds. Volunteers assisted in removing the elderly from the compartment, she added.

Rajalakshmi, a student at a municipal college, claimed to have visited Kolkata for an internship. She said that the collision and derailment hit at approximately 7 o’clock on June 2 and that as a result, individuals in her carriage tumbled to the ground, and one guy had a bleeding wound on his nose.

According to her, some of the people who rode in the unreserved compartments looked to be migrant labourers travelling to Kerala or Tamil Nadu. Some of them might be seen sobbing as they lost loved ones, in my opinion.

Ramesh, a different passenger from the Tenkasi area, described the disaster as catastrophic. The death toll “may be higher than currently believed,” he warned.

According to Tamil Nadu Revenue Minister K K S S R Ramachandran, the Tamil Nadu government has made touch with 127 passengers of Train Number 12841 – Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express and five more of 12864 Sir Viswesvaraya Terminal-Howrah Superfast Express.

A second team of authorities, consisting of two district revenue officers, three deputy collectors, and three tahsildars who are fluent in Hindi and Odia, has gone for Odisha, he informed reporters, to work with the other officials on the rescue efforts.

For its part, Tamil Nadu’s health administration has prepared roughly 40 beds in the ICU at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and informed the medical staffs of other significant hospitals in the area to provide medical treatment to the wounded passengers who would arrive on June 4 at those facilities as well.

Gagandeep Singh Bedi, the health secretary, said that over 100 physicians have been instructed to be vigilant and react to any emergencies.

The Tamil Nadu government said earlier in the day that it had made plans to assure the return of the stranded and wounded passengers from Odisha and that a high-level team made up of state ministers and officials had been sent to the accident scene to oversee rescue and relief efforts.

Chief Minister Stalin said that additional information on the number of wounded and other specifics were still pending when he visited the control centre set up at Ezhilagam, Chepauk. I’ve sent a rescue team under the command of Additional DGP Sandeep Mittal to work with the local administration on the rescue efforts.

“I spoke to Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik on Friday night and conveyed my heartfelt condolences on the Balasore train accident that shocked the nation,” he said. At the control room, Stalin assured reporters that he had given all of our assistance.

For those in need of assistance, the Tamil Nadu government has created helplines at 9445869843, 1070 (toll-free), and 9445869848 (WhatsApp).

The chief minister offered a settlement of Rs 5 lakh for the relatives of the dead and Rs 1 lakh for the wounded, expressing his sincere condolences and sympathy to the bereaved families. According to him, this would be in addition to the Rs 2 lakh and Rs 10 lakh in assistance that have already been declared by the Railways and the Centre.

He responded to a query by saying that the state’s facilities are well equipped to handle the wounded.

In light of the railway disaster, the state administration postponed all official events, including today’s 100th birthday celebration for former chief minister and Dravidian icon M Karunanidhi. The chief minister and other authorities conducted a minute of silence in remembrance of the deceased.