A train came off the tracks in Uttar Pradesh yesterday, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 400 as carriages slammed into each other, officials said.
Local residents said that some derailed carriages hit nearby houses.
The accident in Khatauli close to Muzaffarnagar is at least the fourth major passenger train derailment this year and the third in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.
A crash in November in Uttar Pradesh killed 150 people.
Television channels showed chaotic scenes at the crash site, with rescuers trying find the injured amid crowds of people gathered around overturned carriages.
At least 14 carriages had come off the tracks.
“We are struggling to pull out injured, and are waiting for gas cutters to arrive. It’s too dark to launch a full fledged search operation, but our teams are trying their best,” said Ajay Pandey, a senior police officer at the site.
The train was heading to Haridwar in Uttarakhand.
Police and railway officials said they were not ruling out a terror angle in the accident.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spoke to principal secretary (Home) Arvind Kumar and the Muzaffarnagar district magistrate (DM) and directed them to ensure prompt rescue and relief operations at Khatauli.
Two dozen people, many women and children, have been admitted to nearby medical facilities.
The train had left Puri at 9pm on Friday night and was to terminate at Haridwar at 9pm last night.
Railway officials said a medical train was on way and that trains on the route have been diverted through Shamli.
Additional Superintendent of Police Ajay Kumar said police teams were trying to rescue as many passengers trapped in the coaches as possible.
Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu announced a compensation of of Rs350,000 each to the relatives of those who died and Rs50,000 each to those seriously injured.
He also announced Rs25,000 for passengers with minor injuries.
Prabhu said he was personally monitoring the situation.
“I am personally monitoring situation. Have instructed senior officers to reach site immediately and ensure speedy rescue and relief operations,” Prabhu said in series of tweets.
“Have ordered an inquiry into the unfortunate accident to ascertain the cause. Strict action will be taken against any lapse,” he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a message on Twitter saying he was pained by the derailment of the Utkal Express, offering condolences to families of those killed and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured.
Train crashes are frequent in India, which has the world’s fourth biggest rail network.
Poor investment in past decades in the vast network and rising demand means overcrowded trains are running on creaking infrastructure.
In June, there were reports that a planned $15bn safety overhaul of India’s rail network was facing delays as the state steel company could not meet demand for new rails.
The network is in the middle of a $130bn, five-year modernisation.
The government launched the additional safety overhaul programme in February to tackle a surge in train accidents in the past two years blamed on defective tracks.
Local residents look for survivors on the wreckage of train carriages after an express train derailed near the town of Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh yesterday.
