KANPUR, India (Reuters) — Indian rescue workers picked their way through the last of the mangled carriages of a derailed train on Monday (November 21) to pull out more bodies from a disaster that killed at least 133 people and injured more than 200.
Fourteen carriages of the train, en route from Patna to Indore, derailed in the early hours of Sunday (November 20) while most of the more than 500 passengers were asleep.
“It is very difficult to tell the exact toll right now because as soon as we find a body, it is immediately sent to the district hospital,” said the deputy commandant of the disaster response team, Devender Kumar.
At the hospital, many of the injured lay on beds with family members by their side.
“There are many who have broken bones and have sustained severe cuts,” said one doctor, Sanjay Kanojia, adding that 10 to 12 people were in a critical condition.
The derailment was India’s deadliest train crash since 2010 and has renewed concern about the poor safety standard of the state-run network, which is a lifeline for millions of Indians but has suffered from chronic under-investment.
Authorities are looking into the possibility a fractured track caused the train to roll off the rails.