Europe 1 with AFP 14:01 p.m., June 04, 2023

A problem with India's electronic switching system has caused India's deadliest rail disaster in decades, a minister said Sunday, as families search for their loved ones missing in the collision that killed at least 288 people.

The tragedy that has caused the death of more than 288 people in India seems to have a human origin. On Friday night, three trains collided, becoming one of the largest rail disasters in the country's history. "We have identified the cause of the accident and the people responsible for it," Indian Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told ANI news agency on Sunday, adding that it was "not appropriate" to disclose further details before the final investigation report.

According to the minister, "the change that occurred during the electronic switch is at the origin of the accident", referring to the complex computer system managing traffic on Indian railways to prevent trains from colliding. "The culprit and how the accident occurred will be discovered after a proper investigation," he added.

A "human error" of signaling

The initial findings of the investigation have not yet been released, but The Times of India, citing a preliminary investigation report, said on Sunday that signalling "human error" may have caused the collision between three trains. The Coromandel Express, linking Calcutta to Madras, had been given the green light to run on the main track but was diverted to a track where a freight train was already located, according to the newspaper.

The passenger train then collided at a speed of about 130 km/h with the freight convoy near Balasore, about 200 kilometers from Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern Indian state of Odisha. Three cars fell on the adjacent track, hitting the rear of an express train that was flying between Bangalore and Kolkata. It was this collision that caused the most damage, adds the Times.

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"Someone should be punished"

At least 288 people died in the tragedy and more than 900 others were injured. But the death toll could be much higher, reaching 380, according to Odisha state fire service chief Sudhanshu Sarangi. According to Arvind Agarwal, head of a temporary morgue set up in a high school, the bodies are "for the most part, unrecognizable" after more than twenty-four hours of scorching heat.

"So the biggest test (for families) is the identification of the bodies," he added, sitting in the school principal's office. Arvind Agarwal has already warned families that they will probably have to undergo DNA tests to help identify the bodies. Mohammad Abid, 35, told AFP that his 18-year-old son escaped unharmed but was looking for his cousin, who was travelling with him.

"I want to know how two trains were able to run on the same track (...) Someone should be punished for this," he added. Vishwanath Sahni, 47, is looking for his son Manoj Kumar, 26, who was on his way to Madras to work in the textile industry. After touring the hospitals, desperate, he resigned himself to looking for him in the morgue. At his side, his friend Mahender Yadav, 60, whose two sons who were traveling with Manoj Kumar are recovering in hospital. "One of them is seriously injured, but I know they are in hospital and the doctors will do their best," Mahender Yadav told AFP, "I just wanted to be with Vishwanath Sahni hoping he will find his son."

Deadliest rail accident in the country since 1995

"No one responsible" for the accident will be spared, promised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the scene of the disaster on Saturday and met injured people in hospital. "I pray that we get out of this sad moment as soon as possible," he told public broadcaster Doordarshan. After Pope Francis and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in particular, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered his "sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims", hailing "the heroic efforts of first responders and medical personnel".

At this stage, this rail accident is the deadliest in India since 1995, when two express trains collided in Firozabad, near Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, killing more than 300 people. India has experienced a number of fatal train accidents, but safety has improved in recent years thanks to new investment and technological improvements. The deadliest in the country's history remains that of June 6, 1981 when, in the state of Bihar (east), seven cars of a train crossing a bridge fell into the Bagmati River, killing between 800 and 1,000 people.