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Agence France-Presse

Emergency crews searched mangled carriages Sunday for any further victims after a train crash in northern India killed 23 passengers, the fourth major accident this year on the crumbling network.
Another 156 people were injured when 14 carriages came off the tracks in Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh state, 130 kilometres from New Delhi, on Saturday evening.
The coaches were left piled atop each other after the express train derailed at 100 kilometres per hour, crashing into nearby houses and a college.
Rescuers used gas-powered saws Sunday to prise apart the tangled metal and search the wreckage with sniffer dogs.
“We are checking the coaches thoroughly for any survivors or bodies,” Anant Dev, Muzaffarnagar district police chief, said.
A large crowd gathered at the accident site to help free passengers from the damaged carriages, many of which were upended and torn open.
Some of the injured were seriously hurt but many had been released from hospital after receiving treatment, Dev added.


The government has ordered an inquiry into the accident amid speculation unscheduled maintenance work was underway at the time.
Mohammad Jamshed, a senior official with the government’s railway board, said some repair equipment was found near the accident site - indicating work was being carried out.
But he cautioned that the evidence was inconclusive and a thorough probe would unveil the exact cause of the crash.
“The investigation will deal with all the aspects, be it technical, human error or sabotage,” Jamshed said.
Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu vowed in a Twitter message to “fix responsibility” for the crash.
Authorities have also asked anti-terror officers to investigate whether sabotage was involved.

The Utkal-Kalinga express left Puri, a temple city in India’s coastal east, on Thursday evening and was scheduled to arrive in the northern Hindu holy city of Haridwar, a 2,400 kilometre journey.
But survivors described sudden jolting followed by a violent crash near Khatauli railway station in Muzaffarnagar.
“There was a huge thud and a shake before I fell off the berth,” Nadeem Shauket, who escaped with minor injuries, said.
“It’s a miracle,” he said of his survival virtually unscathed, describing how hundreds of locals rushed to their rescue.

Officials said 200 meters of track had been damaged in the accident, but it was hoped services would be restored.
India’s railway network is the world’s fourth largest and remains the main form of travel in the vast country, but it is poorly funded and deadly accidents often occur.
Experts blame under-investment and poor safety standards for the frequency of rail accidents.
This latest derailment is the fourth major crash this year, and follows another accident in Uttar Pradesh last November that left 146 dead.

In January nearly 40 people were killed when a passenger train derailed in the southern state of Andra Pradesh.
A 2012 government report described the loss of 15,000 passengers to rail accidents every year in India as a “massacre”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged US$137 billion over five years to modernise the crumbling railways and his government has signed numerous upgrading deals with private companies.
Japan has agreed to provide $12 billion in soft loans to build India’s first bullet train, with Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tipped to break ground on the project in September.


Indian rescue workers search mangled carriages after train accident kills at least 23

A 2012 government report described the loss of 15,000 passengers to rail accidents every year in India as a ‘massacre’

epa06152654 Rescue work continues at the site of a train accident where coaches of Puri-Haridwar Kalinga Utkal Expresss train derailed in Khatauli near Muzaffarnagar, India, 20 August 2017. According to reports, around 25 people were killed and more than 70 were injured after 14 coaches of an Puri-Haridwar Kalinga Utkal Expresss train derailed in the evening. EPA/RAJAT GUPTA

Indian policemen and emergency crew stand next to the wrecage of a train carriage after an express train derailed on the evening of August 19 near the town of Khatauli in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on August 20, 2017. Emergency crews searched mangled carriages on August 20 for any further victims after a train crash in northern India killed 23 passengers, the fourth major accident this year on the crumbling network. Another 156 people were injured when 14 carriages came off the tracks in Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh state, 130 kilometres (80 miles) from New Delhi, on the evening of August 19th. / AFP PHOTO / -

epa06152662 Rescue work continues at the site of a train accident where coaches of Puri-Haridwar Kalinga Utkal Expresss train derailed in Khatauli near Muzaffarnagar, India, 20 August 2017. According to reports, around 25 people were killed and more than 70 were injured after 14 coaches of an Puri-Haridwar Kalinga Utkal Expresss train derailed in the evening. EPA/RAJAT GUPTA

Passengers on the roof of a train after part of it derailed, in Khatauli, northern India. Photo: AP

Death toll from India train derailment soars past 100 as rescuers race to pull survivors from mangled wreckage

Indian rescue workers search for survivors in the wreckage of the train. Photo: AFP

A view of a derailed train in Kanpur, in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, in this still image taken from video November 20, 2016. ANI/via REUTERS TV ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. NO ACCESS ARD/BBC

REFILE - ADDING DROPPED WORD People gather next to a derailed train in Kanpur, in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, in this still image taken from video November 20, 2016. ANI/via REUTERS TV ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. NO ACCESS ARD/BBC

ATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH Rescuers move a body at the site where a train derailed in Kanpur, in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, in this still image taken from video November 20, 2016. ANI/via REUTERS TV ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. NO ACCESS ARD/BBC TEMPLATE OUT

A view of a derailed train in Kanpur, in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, in this still image taken from video November 20, 2016. ANI/via REUTERS TV ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. NO ACCESS ARD/BBC TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Onlookers and survivors gather next to wreckage of an Indian train that derailed near Pukhrayan in Kanpur district on November 20, 2016. A passenger train derailed in northern India on November 20, killing at least 63 travellers most of whom were sleeping when the fatal accident occurred, police said. Rescue workers rushed to the scene near Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh state where the Patna-Indore express train derailed in the early hours of the morning. / AFP PHOTO / -

Injured passengers are seen in a hospital after a train derailed in Kanpur, in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, in this still image taken from video November 20, 2016. ANI/via REUTERS TV ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. NO ACCESS ARD/BBC

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A 2012 government report described the loss of 15,000 passengers to rail accidents every year in India as a ‘massacre’


.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A 2012 government report described the loss of 15,000 passengers to rail accidents every year in India as a ‘massacre’

A 2012 government report described the loss of 15,000 passengers to rail accidents every year in India as a ‘massacre’