In one of India's worst rail accidents in years, more than 207 bodies were recovered so far, Sudhanshu Sarangi, the director-general of the fire department in Odisha, told Reuters, adding that the death toll "might go up" as rescue teams continued to search.
About 900 people had been taken to local hospitals with injuries, with more than 200 ambulances mobilised, state Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena said in a tweet.
Mr Jena said hundreds of stranded passengers were transported by bus to nearby cities, but the death toll was expected to increase.
The Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, collided with another passenger train, the Howrah Superfast Express, railway officials said.
The Howrah Superfast Express derailed and became entangled with the Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway authorities said in a statement. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Many passengers were believed to be trapped under rail cars at the scene.
Images from the scene show rescuers climbing up the mangled wreck of one of the trains to find survivors
At least 207 people have been killed and 900 injured in a collision between two passenger trains in the Indian state of Odisha, according to government officials.
Key points:
- The collision is the worst train crash the country has seen in recent years
- Many passengers are believed to be trapped under rail cars at the scene
- The cause of the accident is under investigation
In one of India's worst rail accidents in years, more than 207 bodies were recovered so far, Sudhanshu Sarangi, the director-general of the fire department in Odisha, told Reuters, adding that the death toll "might go up" as rescue teams continued to search.
About 900 people had been taken to local hospitals with injuries, with more than 200 ambulances mobilised, state Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena said in a tweet.
Mr Jena said hundreds of stranded passengers were transported by bus to nearby cities, but the death toll was expected to increase.
The Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, collided with another passenger train, the Howrah Superfast Express, railway officials said.
The Howrah Superfast Express derailed and became entangled with the Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway authorities said in a statement.
The cause of the accident is under investigation.
Many passengers were believed to be trapped under rail cars at the scene.
Images from the scene show rescuers climbing up the mangled wreck of one of the trains to find survivors.
Rescuers climbed up the mangled wreck of the trains to find survivors.(AP: Press Trust of India)
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said authorities' priority was "removing the living to the hospitals, that's our first concern, to look after the living".
Hundreds of young people lined up outside a government hospital in Odisha's Soro to donate blood.
"I was there at the site and I can see bloods, broken limbs and people dying around me," an eyewitness told Reuters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet "all possible assistance" was being given to those affected.
Rescue teams have been mobilised from Odisha's Bhubaneswar and Kolkata in West Bengal, federal Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a tweet. The National Disaster Response Force, state government teams and the air force had also mobilised to respond to the incident, he added. H K Dwivedi, West Bengal's Chief Secretary, told reporters the crash was a "grave accident". The National Disaster Response Force, state government teams and the air force had also mobilised to respond to the incident, Federal Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India’s railways, the largest train network under one management in the world. In August 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in the worst train accident in India’s history. Most train accidents are blamed on human error or outdated signalling equipment. More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, travelling on 64,000 kilometres of track.
