Rescuers have pulled 73 bodies out of the wreckage following a train crash in eastern India, CNN has said.
Thirteen passenger cars of the Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Express were derailed in a rural area about 90 miles (150 kilometres) to the south of Calcutta early on Friday. The cars capsized on a parallel track and were slammed by a cargo train, RIA Novosti reported.
More than 110 passengers were injured in the incident, CNN said. The cause of the derailment remains unclear, with Indian officials giving different theories about the crash.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee was quoted on the TV channel's website as saying a bomb explosion was the reason.
"The blast was carefully timed," Banerjee said. "The tracks were sabotaged 15 minutes before the train passed over them."
India's Home Ministry said, however, that there was no immediate evidence suggesting a blast, the TV channel said.
According to the ministry, a portion of rails was removed from the railway track, while it was unclear whether explosives were used or not.
Police officials were quoted as saying Maoist rebels could be responsible for the crash.
The Maoists, also known as Naxalites after the village in West Bengal where impoverished villagers staged an uprising against landowners in 1967, have waged a campaign of violence against the government, police and landowners for four decades.
...