Up to 15 reported killed in Indian train collision

The incident is the latest to hit India’s creaking rail network, which carries millions of passengers each day.

As many as 15 people have been killed and dozens injured after a freight train collided with a passenger train in India’s West Bengal state.

The cargo train hit the Kanchanjunga Express in the Darjeeling district of the eastern state on Monday morning. Initial reports suggest that the cause of the accident was human error. India’s busy railways record hundreds of accidents every year.

At least 15 bodies have been pulled from the mangled carriages, Abhishek Roy, a senior police official in the eastern state’s district of Darjeeling, the site of the accident, told the Reuters news agency.

Nearly 30 people were injured and rescue teams from the police and national disaster response force were working with doctors and residents of the area to clear debris from the derailed carriages, Roy added.

Sabyasachi De, the spokesperson of the Northeast Frontier Railway, said three of the dead were railway personnel.

Doctors, ambulances and disaster teams were dispatched to the site of the crash, which occurred close to the New Jalpaiguri station, West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on X.

“Action on war-footing initiated,” she said. Labelling the incident as “tragic”, she did not offer immediate confirmation of casualties.

Shocked to learn, just now, about a tragic train accident, in Phansidewa area of Darjeeling district. While details are awaited, Kanchenjunga Express has reportedly been hit by a goods train. DM, SP, doctors, ambulances and disaster teams have been rushed to the site for rescue,…

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) June 17, 2024

TV pictures showed one train rammed into the end of the other,