Death toll in train crash in southern India rise to 14 people

At least 14 people were killed and more than 50 others injured in a train accident in southern India late on Sunday, Anadolu Agency reports citing the officials, Azernews reports.

The incident, involving two trains, occurred in Andhra Pradesh state, according to Indian Railways and government officials.

Fourteen people died in the accident, a senior civil official in the state's Vizianagaram district, told Anadolu by phone on Monday.

A spokesman of Indian Railways, Biswajit Sahu, said that over 50 people were injured and that rescue efforts were over, with the focus now to be on track restoration work.

Earlier, Indian railways had said a Visakhapatnam-Palasa passenger train and Visakhapatnam-Rayagada Passenger Special were involved. A railways spokesman had said the likely reason is “human error and the overshooting of the signal by the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train.”

“Two coaches of the Visakhapatnam-Palasa Passenger train from the rear and the loco of the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train got derailed,” it said.

The incident is the second one this month. Four people were killed earlier this month after coaches of a passenger train derailed in Bihar state.

In June, in eastern Odisha state, an accident involving two passenger trains and a freight train left more than 290 people dead and over 1,000 injured.