Thiruvananthapuram: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor expressed shock over the rise in number of people killed in the triple train crash at Balasore in Odisha. Taking a dig at the railway ministry, he questioned the reason behind the accident and expressed hope that the ministry will conduct a professional inquiry.
“Hope there is a serious professional inquiry into how this occurred, & equally how such a tragedy was allowed to happen. What systems failed us? What SOPs were missing?,” tweeted the Congress leader.
Tharoor also tagged railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in his tweet on Saturday. He also paid condolences to the people who were killed in the accident.
Meanwhile, it is suspected that a faulty signal system led to the accident.
The accident on Friday night killed at least 261 people and injured nearly 1,000 in one of the worst railway tragedies in the country.
The Indian Railways has ordered a high-level probe to ascertain the cause of the accident.
Gas cutters were used to extricate the bodies from under the derailed coaches. From a vantage point high above the ground, the accident site looked as if a powerful whirlwind had thrown the coaches on top of each other.
(With PTI inputs)