Iran expresses sympathy with India over train incident

Nasser Kan’ani extended a condolence message on Saturday over the death of hundreds of people in the train incident in Odisha’s Balasore district, sympathizing with the Indian government, people, and the families of the victims in particular.

The accident, which happened about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Kolkata on Friday night, led to the killing of more than 280 people and injuring hundreds.

Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, accidents occur every year on India’s railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.

In 2018, a commuter train drove through a crowd gathered on the tracks for a festival in the northern city of Amritsar, killing at least 59 people and injuring dozens of others.

In 2017, over 40 people were killed after several coaches of a passenger train went off the rails in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Most train accidents in the country are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.

More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.

MNA/IRN85130262