India train crash leaves 22 dead

AGRA: Two passenger trains have collided near the city of Mathura in northern India, killing at least 22 people.

One of the trains, the Mewar Express, was stopped at a red signal when the Goa Express rammed into it from behind, a railway official said. Rescuers used gas cutters to enter the train. About 22 people were injured and taken to hospital.

Officials say the rescue operation is now over and all the passengers have been accounted for. The crash took place just before 5am local time. “The Goa Express train rammed into the Mewar Express train from behind, this is the situation. A coach of the Mewar Express was damaged, whereas, there has been damage in the pantry car of the Goa Express,” said RD Tripathi, a railway official.

“We felt a massive jolt,” Ramesh Charan, a passenger aboard the Mewar Express, told Reuters. “Some people sleeping on upper berths fell to the coach floor by the impact of the collision,” he said. Army teams joined civil authorities to carry on rescue operations at the site of the collision. Railways Minister Mamata Bannerji has announced an inquiry into the collision.