Kolkata, May 28: At least 25 people were killed when two trains collided after a blast hit an express passenger train and flung it into the path of a speeding goods train in eastern India earlier today.
The passenger train was blown into the path of a goods train travelling in the opposite direction when the explosion occurred on a rail line in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal state, an area known to be a stronghold of Maoist rebels.
One local government official said the toll could go up to “anywhere around 50-60” because many passengers were trapped inside mangled coaches.
A rail spokesperson said sabotage was suspected to have caused the crash, which left train carriages strewn along the tracks.
The exact death toll is still unknown, however witnesses reported seeing at least 20 bodies among the chaos and panic, as emergency crews searched for survivors in the wreckage.
“I can see at least four passenger coaches completely mangled. I am seeing many bodies crushed under the goods train,” Naresh Jana, a reporter of the Telegraph newspaper told Reuters.
“People are crying. Rescuers are struggling to save the survivors and get the bodies out. I can see body parts hanging out of the compartments and under the wheels. I can hear people, women, crying for help from inside the affected coaches.”
The incident comes days after a passenger airliner crashed in southern India, killing 158 people.
The passenger train was going to Mumbai from the eastern metropolis of Kolkata in West Bengal state. The incident occurred in the state’s Jhargram area.
“The blast derailed 13 coaches of the Gyaneshwari Express. These coaches then fell on the other track where a goods train rammed into some of them,” said railway spokesman Soumitra Majumdar. “We fear many casualties. There could be many people dead. We don’t have details yet.”
It appeared to be the worst loss of life on India’s enormous rail network since 22 people were killed last October, when a Delhi-bound express ploughed into the back of another passenger train near the Taj Mahal town of Agra.
The railway system – the main form of long-distance travel in India despite fierce competition from private airlines – runs 14,000 passenger and freight trains a day, carrying 18.5 million people.
Past accidents have left hundreds dead.
In 2002, 100 were killed and 150 hurt when a carriage plunged into a river in the northeastern state of Bihar, while in 1995 more than 300 died in a collision near Ferozabad, near Agra.
Maoist rebels have been responsible for several train derailments in eastern India.
The rebels, who often attack police, government buildings and infrastructure such as railway stations, have stepped up attacks in recent months, in response to a government security offensive to clear them out of their jungle bases.
The rebels blew up a bus in the mineral-rich state of Chhattisgarh this month, killing 35 people, about a month after 76 police were killed in another attack.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the insurgency as India’s biggest internal security challenge.
—-Agencies