At least eight people were killed in India on Monday when the driver of a goods convoy ignored a signal and rear-ended a passenger train in the eastern state of West Bengal, police and police said. railway authorities.
About 50 people were injured and taken to hospital, said Jaya Varma Sinha, chairman of the Indian Railways Board, in a statement specifying that the convoy of goods “ignored the signal and hit the train from behind.”
Among the dead are the driver and his second who did not respect the signal, as well as a barrier guard and five passengers, added Ms. Sinha.
The chairman of the Indian Railways Board also said that the human toll could have been higher because some of the last carriages of the train, hit most violently by the goods convoy, were carrying equipment and not passengers.
Images broadcast by Indian media showed the tangled wreckage of wagons overturned on their sides, with one propelled skyward, resting precariously on top of another.
A local police officer, Iftikar-Ul-Hassan, told AFP he had seen several seriously injured people pulled from the rubble.
“The toll could rise further because four people were admitted (to hospital) in serious condition,” he said.
Darjeeling district police chief Praween Prakash told AFP that rescue operations had been completed.
“We are now working on clearing the debris”he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to “those who have lost their loved ones”in a message on social networks, adding that “Rescue operations are underway.”
