New Delhi – At least eight people were killed and more than 50 others were injured when a freight train collided with a passenger train in India on Monday. The crash occurred in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal when the freight train struck the Kanchanjunga Express in the New Jalpaiguri area, causing at least three carriages of the passenger train to derail.
The Kanchanjunga Express was traveling from Silchar in Assam state to Sealdah in Kolkata when the collision occurred.
The grim footage broadcast on Indian TV news channels showed hundreds of people watching as rescuers tried to save passengers trapped in the mangled train carriages, one of which jutted into the air at a steep angle.
India’s national NDTV network said the relatively low death toll, given the severity of the crash, could be due to the freight train crashing into the rear carriages of the passenger train, which were not believed to be carrying passengers.
‘Five people, including the locomotive[motive] pilot of Kanchanjunga Express, died on the spot. Twenty-five people are injured,” Abhishek Roy, Additional Superintendent of Police for Darjeeling Police District, told reporters at the scene, adding that efforts to rescue people trapped in the train continued.
Officials later increased the confirmed death toll to eight.
The accident forced suspension of all train services on the Kolkata-Siliguri line, officials said.
“The rescue work has been completed,” Jaya Verma Sinha, chairman of the Indian Railway Board, told reporters, adding that injured victims were receiving “the best possible treatment”.
Sinha said human error likely caused the accident as “it appears the driver of the freight train ignored the signal.”
A detailed investigation was expected to confirm the cause of the fatal accident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the crash “saddening” and announced informal government aid payments of 200,000 Indian rupees (about $2,400) for the families of people killed in the incident and 50,000 rupees (about $600) for those injured.
Indian Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced a separate state compensation of 1 million rupees (about $12,000) for each family where someone died in the crash, and 250,000 rupees (about $3,000) for those injured.
India has one of the largest rail networks in the world, but accidents are common. In June 2023, one of the deadliest train accidents in IndiaNearly 300 people were killed and more than 1,000 others were injured in the attack on three trains in the eastern state of Odisha.
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