Bangladesh Deputy High Commission opens hotline as Chennai-Kolkata train crash kills scores

Bangladeshi patients and their families frequently use the route where the accident killed at least 120 passengers and injured more than 850 others

The Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata has opened a hotline after a train accident killed scores of passengers and injured hundreds on a route frequently used by Bangladeshis.

Indian media outlets reported at least 120 people were dead and more than 850 others were injured in a collision between the Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, and the Howrah Superfast Express at Balasore in Odisha on Friday evening.

Citing Sudhanshu Sarangi, directorate general of Odisha Fire Services, the India Today said the death toll may go up.

The Howrah Superfast Express derailed and became entangled with the Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway authorities said in a statement.

Media reports had earlier said that the crash was between the Coromandel Express and a goods train. The Hindustan Times reported a third train was involved in the accident.

The Bangladesh mission in Kolkata said it was communicating with the Odisha state government and Indian railways authorities because Bangladeshi patients and their families frequently use the route.

It requested Bangladeshis to contact the deputy high commission via WhatsApp at [phone] for information.

Images from the scene showed rescuers climbing up the mangled wreck of one of the trains to find survivors.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said authorities' priority was "removing the living to the hospitals, that's our first concern, to look after the living".

Rescue operations were under way at the site and "all possible assistance" is being given to those affected, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet.

Rescue teams have been mobilised from Odisha's Bhubaneswar and Kolkata in West Bengal, federal Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a tweet.

The National Disaster Response Force, state government teams and the air force had also mobilised to respond to the incident, he added.