New Delhi — The death toll from the derailment of two passenger trains in India has risen to 120, according to a media report.
State Fire Service Chief Sudhanshu Sarangi was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying that many bodies have been found and the number is likely to increase. He also said that more than 800 people were injured.
Officials said the accident occurred in eastern India, about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Kolkata. The cause was under investigation.
This is an urgent news update. The former AP’s story follows below.
Two passenger trains derailed on Friday in India, killing at least 50 people and trapping hundreds more inside more than a dozen damaged train cars, officials said.
Officials said that about 400 people were taken to hospitals after the accident, which occurred in eastern India, about 220 km southwest of Kolkata. The cause was under investigation.
Amitabh Sharma, a spokesman for the Ministry of Railways, said that 10 to 12 coaches of one train were derailed, and debris from some of the mangled buses fell on a nearby track.
Sharma said the wreckage hit another passenger train coming from the opposite direction and derailed as many as three buses of the second train.
The Press Trust of India news agency reported that a third train carrying cargo was also involved, but there was no immediate confirmation from the railway authorities.
In the aftermath, television images showed rescuers climbing over the wreckage to break open doors and windows and use torches to free the survivors.
Passenger Vandana Kalida told New Delhi TV news channel that she “found people falling on each other” as her coach jolted violently and veered off the rails. She said she was lucky to survive.
Another unnamed survivor said he was asleep when the shock woke him. He said he saw other passengers with broken limbs and mutilated faces.
At least 50 people died, Dattatraya Busaheb Shinde, the chief administrative officer of Balasore district said. The Press Trust reported that the death toll was at least 70.
Pradeep Gina, chief administrator of Odisha state, said nearly 500 police officers and rescue workers with 75 ambulances and buses responded to the accident site.
Shinde said rescuers were trying to free 200 people who were feared trapped in the wreckage.
The derailed Coromandel Express was heading from Howrah in West Bengal state to Chennai, the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the Press Trust said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his thoughts were with the bereaved families.
“May the injured recover soon,” Modi wrote on Twitter, who said he had spoken to the Railways Minister and that “all possible help” had been given.
Despite the government’s efforts to improve railway safety, several hundred accidents occur each year on Indian Railways, the largest single-management train network in the world.
In August 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in the worst train accident in India’s history.
Most train accidents are blamed on human error or outdated transmission equipment.
More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India each day, traveling on 64,000 km (40,000 mi) of track.
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