Developing | Horror in India as speeding train ploughs through festival crowd, kills 58, and doesn’t stop
- The crowd in northern India was on the tracks watching a fireworks display and burning the effigy of a demon
- A witness said the train didn’t even sound its whistle as it sped past the site
A speeding train ran over a crowd watching fireworks during a religious festival in northern India on Friday, killing at least 58 people and injuring dozens more, police said.
The train failed to stop after the accident on the outskirts of Amritsar, a city in Punjab state, said the state governing Congress party politician, Pratap Singh Bajwa.
Police Commissioner S. S. Srivastava said the police have found 58 bodies so far.
The Press Trust of India news agency said two trains arrived from the opposite direction on separate tracks at the same time giving little opportunity for people to escape. However, the casualties were caused by only one of the trains, it quoted officials as saying.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was extremely saddened by the accident. “Have asked officials to provide immediate assistance that is required,” Modi said on Twitter.
