A train in northern India has derailed, killing at least 100 people and injuring dozens more, police officials have said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the express train
travelling between the cities of Patna and Indore came off the
tracks near Kanpur city.
Fourteen carriages left the tracks, railway officials said.
Two senior police officials in Kanpur said their teams have pulled out at least 100 bodies from the badly damaged carriages.
"Still many more passengers are trapped," a senior railway official in New Delhi said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences on Twitter.
"Anguished
beyond words on the loss of lives due to the derailing of the
Patna-Indore express. My thoughts are with the bereaved families," he
wrote.
Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu said the government would immediately
investigate the causes of the derailment and promised accountability
with the "strictest possible action".
India's railway system is
the world's fourth largest, ferrying more than 20 million people each
day, but it has a poor safety record, with thousands of people dying in
accidents every year.
The nation suffers frequent train
derailments, sometimes with tragic consequences, including another train
accident in Uttar Pradesh in March last year that killed 39 people.
