Virender Sehwag to provide 'free education' to children of Odisha train accident victims; Twitter salutes India great

Sehwag took to his official Twitter account to make a statement following the tragic train accident.

Team India's former opener Virender Sehwag on Sunday made an incredible gesture towards the children of victims of the tragic Odisha train accident, that occurred on Friday. 275 people died while 1,175 faced injuries in the train disaster, as three trains— Shalimar-Chennai Coromandel Express, Bengaluru-Howrah super fast and a goods train — were involved in the pile-up. It has been described as one of India’s worst train accidents.

Virender Sehwag(File)

Taking to his official Twitter account, Sehwag, attaching an image of the accident site, wrote, “This image will haunt us for a long time. In this hour of grief, the least I can do is to take care of education of children of those who lost their life in this tragic accident. I offer such children free education at Sehwag International School’s boarding facility.”

The Coromandel Express rammed into a stationary goods train and many of its carriages overturned including some onto another train, the Bengaluru-Howrah superfast express, which was also passing by at the same time on Friday.

Investigators are looking into possible human error, signal failure and other possible causes behind the three-train crash.

The Twitter users, meanwhile, saluted Sehwag's unparalleled gesture at the time of crisis.

In another tweet, Sehwag also acknowledged and saluted the rescue efforts being made following the accident.

“Also salute all the brave men and women who have been at the forefront of the rescue operations and the medical team and volunteers who have been voluntarily donating blood . We are together in this,” he wrote.

Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the crash site on Saturday and talked to rescue officials. He also visited a hospital to inquire about the injured, and spoke to some of them.

PM Modi told reporters he felt the pain of the crash victims. He said the government would do its utmost to help them and strictly punish anyone found responsible.