‘Just Horrible’: MSNBC’s Alex Witt Reacts To Horrific Video Of Deadly Train Crash in India
MSNBC’s Alex Witt didn’t hold back when she called the video of one of the world’s worst train disasters that killed nearly 300 people, “just horrible.”
It happened in eastern India’s Odisha State, where reporter Meagan Fitzgerald said some 300 people have been killed and another 1,000 injured.
“A day of mourning was declared in Odisha, which is home to 45 million people, and dozens of trains were canceled,” reported The New York Times.
Fitzgerald quoted India’s railway minister as saying that at least 10 train cars came off the tracks initially, causing falling debris on a nearby track. A second passenger train traveling in the other direction hit that debris, causing several of that train’s car to derail, as well. Fitzgerald said the Indian army, first responders, and more than 100 doctors rushed to the scene.
“The force of the collision left cars so mangled that rescuers used cutting equipment to reach victims,” the Times reported.
Fitzgerald told Witt, “Overnight, we saw search and rescue crews working, round the clock, really, trying to rescue those that were trapped beneath the rubble and trapped beneath those train cars.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi surveyed the damage and visited the injured in the hospital, saying that “whomever is responsible for this will be punished severely.”
Fitzgerald explained that trains are the “dominant form of travel” in India, with more than 12 million people riding on some 14,000 trains across the country each day.
“There are hundreds of crashes every year,” she said. However, this disaster is being called “the most horrific train crash that India has seen in more than two decades.”
“Now, Modi, along with other officials in India say that they are continuing this instigation. It will be thorough; they are trying to figure out exactly what caused it, and they’re trying to make sure that this type of incident doesn’t happen again.”
India’s railway minister said “those affected by the crash would receive compensation,” according to the Times.
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