17:14 (GMT+4) At least 120 people were killed and more than 150 injured when an Indian express train derailed in northern Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, with the toll set to rise amid a scramble to locate survivors in the wreckage.
Police officials said people were still missing as authorities were trying to ascertain what caused 14 carriages of the train traveling between the northeastern city of Patna and the central city of Indore to suddenly roll off the tracks in Pukhrayan, 65 km south of Kanpur city.
Authorities said they were checking what condition the tracks had been in but added they would need to look further before concluding the cause of the derailment.
Desperate survivors were looking for family members and some were trying to enter the damaged carriages to rescue relatives and collect belongings, said senior railway official Pratap Rai.
"We are using every tactic to save lives but it's very difficult to cut the metal carriages," Rai said from the accident site.
With the death toll set to rise, the derailment could become India's worst rail tragedy since 2005, when a train was crushed by rocks and another plunged into a river - each killing more than 100 people.
India's creaking railway system is the world's fourth largest. The federal government runs 11,000 trains a day, including 7,000 passenger trains that ferry more than 20 million people, but it has a poor safety record, with thousands of people dying in accidents every year, including in frequent train derailment and collisions.
Suresh Prabhu, India's railways minister, said in a tweet that the government would investigate the causes of the derailment and promised accountability with the "strictest possible action" and compensation for the affected passengers.
10:13 (GMT+4) At least 91 people were killed and scores injured when 14 cars of an express train derailed near the town of Pukhrayan in Uttar Pradesh in northern India, AFP reported, citing police. Relief teams have rushed to the scene.
“The death toll has unfortunately increased and it is 91 now,” Daljit Singh Chawdhary, additional police director general of Uttar Pradesh state, said, as cited by AFP.
07:26 (GMT+4) 60 people died after an express train derailed early Sunday near the northern Indian city of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Sputnik reported.
Initial reports say that 14 railcars overturned, according to the India Today news magazine.
07:18 (GMT+4) At least 30 people died after an express train derailed early Sunday near the northern Indian city of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Sputnik reported.
Initial reports say that 14 railcars overturned, according to the India Today news magazine.
Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh confirmed the fatal accident, saying his thoughts were with the bereaved families.
"Deeply pained by the loss of lives caused by the derailment of Patna-Indore Express near Kanpur," Singh tweeted.
07:00 (GMT+4) Police in northern India say 14 coaches of a passenger train have rolled off the track, killing at least 24 people and injuring more than 100, AP reported.
Inspector Anand Mishra says volunteers and railway police are working to pull out passengers who are trapped in the coaches that had fallen on the side.
The Patna-Indore Express train derailed at Purwa, a village near the industrial town of Kanpur early Sunday.
Mishra says medical teams are providing first aid near the site while the more seriously injured have been moved to hospitals in Kanpur.
It is not immediately clear was caused the coaches to derail.
Train accidents are common in India, with most accidents occurring due to human error or aging equipment.