India rail crash kills 23

NEW DELHI: Emergency crews searched mangled carriages yesterday 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, 130km from New Delhi, on Saturday evening.

The coaches were left in a mangled heap after the express train derailed at 100kph, crashing into nearby houses and a college.

Rescuers used gas-powered saws yesterday to prise apart the tangled metal and search the wreckage with sniffer dogs.

“We are checking the coaches thoroughly for any survivors or bodies. We will clear the tracks today,” Anant Dev, Muzaffarnagar district police chief, said.

A large crowd descended on 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 treatment, Dev added.

The Utkal-Kalinga express left Puri, a temple city in India’s coastal east, on Thursday and was scheduled to arrive in the northern Hindu holy city of Haridwar yesterday.

The government has ordered an inquiry into the accident amid speculation unscheduled maintenance work was under way at the time.

Criminal investigators were also probing whether sabotage was involved. – AFP