Train kills at least 60 attending India religious festival

NEW DELHI — A speeding train ran over a crowd watching fireworks during a religious festival in northern India on Friday evening, killing at least 60 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.

Railway police officer Sukhwinder Singh said Saturday morning that another 50 people have been injured and hospitalized.

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 escape.

The casualties were caused by one of the trains, it quoted officials as saying.

A witness said the train didn’t even sound its whistle as it sped past the site, where hundreds were watching the burning of an effigy of demon Ravana during the Hindu festival of Dussehra.

“Why did authorities allow the fireworks display so close to the railroad track?’” he asked. He told the Republic television channel that he lost two brothers.

Another witness said the victims did not realize that a train was coming because the fireworks were too loud.

Navjot Kaur Siddhu, a local Congress party politician, said the celebrations take place in the area every year and that railroad authorities are alerted to run trains at slow speeds.

However, Junior Railways Minister Manoj Sinha said after visiting the accident site that organizers did not alert railroad authorities about their plan this year to hold a religious function there.

While accidents are relatively common on India’s sprawling rail network, Friday’s was among the deadliest in recent years.