Scores Killed as Train Derails in India

The death toll following the derailment of a train in India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state has now passed 100, with more than 150 injured, police say. Fourteen carriages of the Indore-Patna Express derailed just after 03:00 local time on Sunday (21:30 GMT Saturday) near the city of Kanpur.

Rescuers cut their way through the twisted carriages to retrieve bodies and rescue the injured. More than 150 people have been reported injured, BBC reported.

It was not immediately clear what caused the coaches to derail near the village of Pukhrayan.

Krishna Keshav, who was travelling on the train, told the BBC: “We woke with a jolt at around 3 a.m. Several coaches were derailed, everybody was in shock. I saw several bodies and injured people.”

Most of the victims were located in two carriages near the engine which overturned and were badly damaged, reports said. Rescue workers at the site were using heavy machinery to cut through the carriages to reach survivors.

“Many more passengers are trapped,” said Anil Saxena, a senior railroad official in Delhi.

The BBC’s Sanjoy Majumder, in Delhi, says rescuers have recently brought out some survivors, including two children, which brought cheers from onlookers. Some 250 police officials are also at the site.

One passenger whose carriage did not derail told AP the train was going at normal speed. It stopped suddenly, said Satish Kumar, then restarted shortly before the crash.

Many anxious relatives gathered at the station in Indore, where the train began its journey, holding pictures of loved ones, the Times said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Anguished beyond words on the loss of lives due to the derailing of the Patna-Indore express. My thoughts are with the bereaved families.

“Prayers with those injured in the tragic train accident.”

Modi said he had spoken to Railroads Minister Suresh Prabhu who was “personally monitoring the situation closely”.

On his own Twitter account, Prabhu warned that “strictest possible action will be taken against those who could be responsible for accident”. He said an investigation into the crash would begin immediately and compensation would be paid to “unfortunate passengers who died and to injured”.

Train accidents are fairly common in India, where much of the rail equipment is out of date. An accident in Uttar Pradesh in March last year killed 39 people and injured 150. About 23 million passengers everyday use the country’s vast network, the fourth largest in the world.