• 00:22
  • Thursday ,22 October 2009
العربية

India trains collision kills 22

By-BBC

International News

23:10

Wednesday ,21 October 2009

India trains collision kills 22

Two passenger trains have collided near the city of Mathura in northern India, killing at least 22 people.
One of the trains, the Mewar Express, was stopped at a red signal when the Goa Express rammed into it from behind, a railway official said.

Rescuers used gas cutters to enter the train. About 22 people were wounded and taken to hospital.

Officials say the rescue operation is now over and all the passengers have been accounted for.

The crash took place just before 5am local time (2330 GMT).

'Massive jolt'
"The Goa Express train rammed into the Mewar Express train from behind, this is the situation. A coach of the Mewar Express was damaged, whereas, there has been damage in the pantry car of the Goa Express," the Reuters news agency quoted railway official RD Tripathi as saying.

"We felt a massive jolt," Ramesh Charan, a passenger aboard the Mewar Express told Reuters.

"Some people sleeping on upper berths fell to the coach floor by the impact of the collision," he said.

Army teams joined civil authorities to carry on rescue operations at the site of the collision. Railways Minister Mamata Bannerji has announced an inquiry into the collision.

A railway spokesman told the BBC that buses and a relief train had been arranged to bring the rescued passengers to the capital, Delhi.

The state-owned Indian railways form an immense network connecting every corner of the vast country.

It operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries 18 million passengers every day.