NEW DELHI — At least five people died and more than 45 were injured when a train derailed Thursday in India’s West Bengal state, officials said.
Twelve coaches of the train went off the rails and three capsized. Images from the scene showed passengers stuck in twisted metal and debris as rescuers rushed to pull them out.
The train was on its way to Gauhati in Assam state from Bikaner, a city in Rajasthan state, when the accident occurred in Jalpaiguri district.
All of the injured were being treated in a hospital, senior police officer Debarshi Dutta said.
Senior railway official Guneet Kaur said the cause of the derailment was being investigated. She said the government would provide financial compensation to families of the deceased and all of the injured.
Incidents are common on India’s massive but aging railway network. Safety standards have been an ongoing concern on the state-run system, which operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries about 23 million passengers every day.
In 2016, 127 people were killed when 14 coaches derailed in Uttar Pradesh state in one of India’s worst train incidents.
