UPDATE 1 -- At least 5 dead, 100 injured after train derails in northern India

[News_Editor]

UPDATE 1 -- At least 5 dead, 100 injured after train derails in northern India

2011-07-10 16:56:13 GMT+7 (ICT)

FATEHPUR, INDIA (BNO NEWS) -- At least five people were killed and up to 100 people were injured on Sunday afternoon when a passenger train bound for the Indian capital of New Delhi derailed in Uttar Pradesh state, officials said.

The accident happened at around 12.20 p.m. local time when 13 carriages of a Kalka Express train derailed near Malwa railway station in Fatehpur district of Uttar Pradesh state. The train, carrying hundreds of people, was coming from the city of Howrah and was on its way to New Delhi.

Harish Chandra Joshi, the General Manager of Northern Central Railways, said the train was traveling at a speed of about 108 kilometers (67 miles) per hour when it made a sudden emergency stop, causing it to derail. "It's a very, very bad and serious accident," he said.

Joshi said one rescue train had been sent to the scene to assist local rescue workers and estimated that some 100 people were injured. Railway Minister Mukul Roy said at least three people were believed to have been killed in the accident while CNN-IBN reported at least five dead.

Hours after the accident, an unknown number of people were still trapped inside seven of the carriages, some of which had been crushed. The Indian Army was called in to assist in the major rescue operation.

India's railroad network is the fourth largest in the world and carries more than 14 million passengers and over a million tonnes of freight daily. But accidents are common, mainly as a result of poor maintenance and human error.

At least 23 people were killed on September 20, 2010, when a freight train struck a stationary passenger train at Badarwas railway station in Madhya Pradesh state. More than 50 people were injured, some seriously.

And on July 19, 2010, a total of 66 people were killed and 165 others were injured when two passenger trains collided at Sainthia railway station in West Bengal state. The accident followed a train derailment on May 28, 2010, in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal, killing 148 people. The derailment was caused by a bomb blast which damaged the railway track.

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