On Monday, a goods train collided with the rear of a passenger train in India’s West Bengal state, killing at least five people and injuring around 30, a police official reported.
Rescue teams are actively working to free others who are feared trapped in the wreckage.
Images from the scene show a chaotic pile-up, with containers from the goods train scattered on the tracks and one carriage nearly vertical.
The accident involved the Kanchanjunga Express, which was travelling to Kolkata from Agartala, causing three of its carriages to derail.
“So far, five people are dead and we have rescued 25 to 30 injured,” said Abhishek Roy, a senior police official in Darjeeling, where the accident occurred, to news agency ANI.
“Their injuries are not fatal. We have rescued them with their luggage.”
Railway officials fear more people may be trapped inside the mangled carriages, but details are still emerging.
Local residents reported hearing a loud sound and seeing the aftermath when they arrived at the site.
Rescuers are responding on a “war footing”, stated Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a post on X.
The potential for greater casualties was mitigated because two of the three derailed carriages were carrying goods, according to a railway official who spoke anonymously.
This tragedy comes nearly a year after India’s worst rail crash in over two decades, which occurred in Odisha and resulted in 288 deaths due to a signal failure.
YOU MAY ALSO READ: Tragedy strikes: At least 19 Jordanian, Iranian pilgrims die during Hajj as temperatures soar in Saudi Arabia