Scramble for survivors
Indian rescue workers search for survivors in the wreckage of a train that derailed near Pukhrayan in Kanpur district on Sunday. A passenger train derailed in northern India on Sunday, killing at least 120 travelers most of whom were sleeping when the fatal accident occurred, police said.
An Indian express train derailed early Sunday, killing at least 120 people in one of the country’s worst rail disasters in years, police said, as emergency workers searched the mangled wreckage for survivors.
Shocked passengers recounted being woken by a violent thud, and told of their desperate search for loved- ones on the train, which was carrying at least one wedding party with the marriage season in India in full swing.
Many were sleeping when 14 carriages leapt from the tracks in a remote area outside the northern city of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh state.
It is the worst disaster since 2010 when a passenger train crashed into a freight train in the eastern state of West Bengal, killing 146.
National Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said in a tweet the government would investigate what caused the derailment and announced compensation for the victims.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has pledged to invest $ 137 billion over five years to modernize the crumbling railways, making them safer, faster and more efficient.
Modi tweeted he was “anguished beyond words” by the loss of life in the latest accident.
Almost 15,000 people were killed every year on India’s railways, according to a government report.