ore than 120 people were killed and hundreds more injured after two passenger trains collided in the eastern Indian state of Odisha on Friday.
The Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, collided with another passenger train, the Howrah Superfast Express, railway officials said.
Some 850 people were taken to hospitals after the accident, which happened in eastern India, about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Kolkata. The cause is under investigation.
Speaking at the crash site, Odisha Fire Services official Sudhanshu Sarangi said: “We have now recovered more than 120 dead bodies.”
Officials warned the figures could increase yet further as emergency services continue to respond to the scene.
More than 200 ambulances responded to the accident, said Pradeep Jena, the top official in Odisha state.
People try to escape from toppled compartments, following the deadly collision of two trains
/ via REUTERSImages from the scene showed rescuers climbing up the mangled wreck of one of the trains to find survivors.
Passenger Vandana Kaleda told the New Delhi Television news channel that she “found people falling on each other” as her coach shook violently and veered off the tracks. She said she was lucky to survive.
Amitabh Sharma, a railroad ministry spokesperson, said 10 to 12 coaches of one train derailed, and debris from some of the mangled coaches fell onto a nearby track. It was hit by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction.
Up to three coaches of the second train also derailed.
The Press Trust of India news agency said the derailed Coromandel Express was traveling from Howrah in West Bengal state to Chennai, the capital of southern Tamil Nadu state.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was distressed by the accident.
“In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon,” tweeted Mr Modi, who said he had spoken to the railway minister and that “all possible assistance” was being offered.
Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India’s railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.
In August 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in the worst train accident in India’s history.
Most train accidents are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.
More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.
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