14 coaches were thrown off track and smashed up against each other.
Rescue workers are still in search for possible survivors in the wreckage of Indore-Patna Express that derailed on Sunday, killing 142 passengers and leaving more than 200 people injured.
According to railway and police officials, the derailment took place at 3.10am near Pukhrayan, about 60km from Kanpur.
14 coaches were thrown off track and smashed up against each other followed by violent rattling and passengers were jolted out of their sleep by a loud bang.
One of the coaches in the front portion of the train was flattened and is still trapped under another coach.
“We haven’t seen an incident like this in Indian Railways for a long time because we have taken a lot of safety measures… There must be a fault in the track as 14 bogeys have derailed and this happened despite regular checking of the tracks,†Hindustan Times quoted Minister of state for railways Rajen Gohain.
Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhu visited the accident site and reviewed the rescue operations and offered all possible support to the affected. He also ordered an investigation into the crash.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was “anguished beyond wordsâ€.
Even though it was not immediately clear what caused the coaches to derail, reports say that the accident could have been caused by a rail fracture.
Hundreds of the national disaster response force, army men, volunteers and railway police were rushed to the spot and are still at work. A green corridor was created for the quick movement of ambulances.
Social Media Updates:
Latest List of injured passengers( Indore-Patna Express train derailment) & details of admitted in various Hospitals pic.twitter.com/Pxv6Q94Tts
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) November 21, 2016
Visited accident site and reviewed rescue and relief operations.Rescuing people,providing relief to those injured our immediate priority pic.twitter.com/0d2Drqlc2X
— Suresh Prabhu (@sureshpprabhu) November 20, 2016