Passenger train derails in India, killing at least 2 passengers and injuring 20 others

LUCKNOW, India -- A passenger train derailed on Thursday in northern India, killing at least two passengers and injuring 20 others, a railroad official said. The cause of the accident is being investigated.

Naveen Kumar, a state relief commissioner, said dozens of rescuers, a 40-member team of doctors and paramedics, and 15 ambulances have reached the site of the accident. The injured have been moved to hospitals and government health centers in the area, he said.

The train was on its way to Dibrugarh, a town in northeastern Assam state, from the northern city of Chandigarh when it derailed near the town of Gonda, causing six coaches to derail and two to overturn, Kumar said. Gonda is about 120 kilometers (70 miles) northeast of Lucknow, the state capital.

Television images showed scores of passengers standing next to derailed coaches waiting for rescuers.

In June, a cargo train rammed into a passenger train in the eastern state of West Bengal, killing nine people and injuring dozens of others. Investigators said the driver of the cargo train, who was among the dead, disregarded a signal and caused the collision.

Last year, a train crash in eastern India killed over 280 people in one of the country’s deadliest accidents in decades.

More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India daily, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track. Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents happen annually, most blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.