LUCKNOW, India – Rescue workers used gas cutters to pull out survivors after 14 coaches of a passenger train rolled off the track, killing at least 90 people in northern India early yesterday, police said.
The bodies were retrieved from the mangled coaches that fell on the side after the train derailed around 3:10 a.m., jolting awake passengers who had settled in for the overnight journey. More than 150 were injured as some coaches crumpled when they crashed into others, trapping hundreds of people inside.
“There are people trapped inside. We are being very careful in using the gas cutters,” said Daljeet Chaudhary, a director general of police. He said the toll was likely to rise as rescue workers were yet to gain access to some of the worst damaged coaches.
The derailment occurred near Pukhrayan, a village near the industrial city of Kanpur, when the coaches jumped the tracks.
Rescuers used gas cutters to open the derailed coaches to reach those trapped inside, while cranes were deployed to lift the coaches from the tracks.
Medical teams were providing first aid near the site while the more seriously injured were moved to hospitals in Kanpur, Chaudhary said. At least two dozen suffered serious injuries, he said. (AP)