At least 8 dead after train collision in eastern India near tourist attraction Darjeeling

Onlookers watch rescue workers at work after a freight train crashed into the Kanchanjunga Express passenger train near New Jalpaiguri railway station in West Bengal state, India, Monday, June 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Diptendu Dutta)

NEW DELHI (AP) — A freight train slammed into a passenger train in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal on Monday, killing at least eight people and injuring several others, officials said.

Doctors, disaster management teams and ambulances are busy with rescue work, said the state’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, in a post on the social media platform X. The accident occurred in the district of Darjeeling, a tourist resort at the foot of the Himalayas.

Three of the eight dead were railway employees, said Sabyasachi De, spokesman for the Northeast Frontier Railway. At least 25 people were injured in the collision near New Jalpaiguri station.

Television channels showed footage of one train crashing into the end of the other, with one carriage flying vertically into the air. Many people gathered as rescue workers searched the scene.

The driver of the freight train ignored a signal, causing the collision, De said. Four compartments at the end of the passenger train were derailed by the impact, he said, adding that most of the carriages were carrying freight while one was a passenger car.

The Kanchanjunga Express is a daily train that connects the state of West Bengal with other cities in the Northeast. It is widely used by tourists travelling to the hill resort of Darjeeling, which is very popular at this time of the year when the heat fades in other Indian cities.

More than 12 million people travel on 14,000 trains across India every day, covering 64,000 kilometers of track. Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents occur every year. Most of these are due to human error or outdated signaling systems.

Last year, more than 280 people died in a train accident in eastern India. It was one of the worst accidents in the country in decades.