At least 95 people were killed early Sunday when a Patna-Indore Express train derailed near India’s northern city of Kanpur, according to constable Hari Sharma inside the police control room in Kanpur.
Railways Ministry spokesperson Anil Saxena said the number of casualties may mount. Over 150 passengers have been injured, according to CNN affiliate CNN News 18. More than 40 people are seriously injured, Rahul Srivastav, the press officer for the Uttar Pradesh police told CNN.
Kanpur, located in Uttar Pradesh state, is nearly 300 miles southeast of New Delhi, the nation’s capital.
Upward of 70 passengers could still be trapped in mangled rail cars, Javeed Ahmed, director general of police for Uttar Pradesh, told the news station.
“We’ve taken out 30 plus dead bodies so far,” said Ahmed. “There are still people trapped in some coaches.”
The crash
Fourteen cars in a 23-car train derailed around 3 a.m., according to Rajesh Modak, the deputy inspector general of police in Kanpur.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash or how many people were traveling on the train, Ahmed said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter to express his condolences.”
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said on Twitter that senior officers were immediately deployed to the accident site.
Prabhu also said the National Disaster Response Force has been activated and is headed to the scene.
India’s massive rail network, used by hundreds of thousands of passengers daily, is known to be poorly maintained. Despite being the most popular form of long-distance travel in India, several train accidents are reported each year.