13 killed and 50 injured after two trains collide in India

Two passenger trains collided in southern India on Sunday, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more.

The crash happened in Andhra Pradesh state’s Vizianagaram district when an incoming train hit a stationary train, leading to at least three rail carriages being derailed, senior railway officer Saurab Prasad said.

Several rescue teams and residents were still working to extract injured passengers from the wreckage.

Thirteen people died in the crash and 50 more have been injured, superintendent of police M Deepika said on Monday.

Officials of the East Coast Railway (ECR) told the Press Trust of India that at around 7pm on Sunday, the Palasa passenger train hit the Rayagada passenger train from behind at Kantakapalli, about 40km from Visakhapatnam, causing three coaches to derail.

“Likely reason: Human error. Overshooting of the signal by Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train,” Biswajit Sahu, chief public relations officer (CPRO) of ECR told reporters.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy asked authorities to send as many ambulances as possible to the crash site and ordered other relief measures.

Train crashes are common in India and are often blamed mostly on human error or outdated signalling equipment.

In June, more than 280 people were killed in one of the country’s deadliest rail crashes in decades after two passenger trains rammed into each other in eastern India.

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