India train crash: At least 50 people feared dead and hundreds injured

At least 50 people are feared dead and hundreds of others have been injured after three trains were involved in a crash in eastern India.

A passenger train derailed and collided with another passenger train which then hit a goods train in Odisha’s Balasore district on Friday evening.

Rescuers were attempting to free 200 people feared trapped in the derailed coaches, D B Shinde, the Balasore district administrator in Odisha state said.

The Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, derailed after the collision and fell on the opposite track.

Speaking from India, Sky reporter Neville Lazarus said the crash took place at around 7.30pm local time and that all hospitals in the Balasore district have been put on high alert.

He said the trains involved in the crash run along important routes which are “one of the main artery tracks” of the eastern side of the country’s network.

A number of high profile officials have been sent to the scene to coordinate rescue operations, he added.

Pradeep Jena, Odisha’s chief secretary, said nearly 500 police officers and rescue workers with 75 ambulances and buses responded to the accident.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi said he is “distressed” by the accident and said rescue operations are underway at the site.

Photos from the scene show people trying to escape from a toppled vehicle.

A railroad ministry spokesperson, Amitabh Sharma, said mangled pieces of the derailed train fell on to a nearby track and were hit by another passenger train coming in the opposite direction.

More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 40,000 miles of track.

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.