After the horrific triple train accident in Odisha's Balasore on Friday, June 2, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated on Sunday that their objective is to ensure that the families of those who have gone missing can be located as soon as possible.
Vaishnaw told reporters on Sunday night, "Our goal is to make sure missing persons' family members can find them as soon as possible...our responsibility is not over yet."
In addition, 51 hours after the terrible triple train accident in Balasore that resulted in at least 275 deaths and more than 1,000 injuries, he waved at the crew of a goods train. He prayed for a safe journey as services resumed following the repair of the damaged tracks on both the up and down lines.
The Railway Minister told ANI on Sunday that work on repairing the damaged tracks began shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued instructions to that effect.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his advice and instructions on the restoration of the railway tracks. The whole team (involved in the restoration work) laboured diligently and systematically to fix the damaged rails for the resumption of services," he said.
The minister added that both lines were reconstructed and tested before services continued, 51 hours after the chilling crash occurrence.
'No intention to hide deaths': Odisha govt
The entire rescue operation is being carried out in full public view, according to PK Jena, the chief secretary of Odisha.
His government has stated that it has no intention of manipulating the number of deaths in the Balasore train crash.
"Media persons are very much present at the accident site since the beginning. Everything is being done in the presence of cameras," he said.
"The railways had stated the death toll as 288. We also said that, and the figure was based on information from the railways. But, our Balasore District Collector has verified the death toll, and the figure was 275 till 10 am of Sunday," he said.
When asked about the change in the death toll, Jena stated that some bodies were counted twice.
The chief secretary stated that journalists could enter the accident site without restriction.
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