21 killed in Indian train crash

A Delhi-bound Indian express train ploughed into the back of another near the Taj Mahal town of Agra early on Wednesday, killing up to 21 and injuring more than 20, police said.

Local police said 21 had died while railway officials put the toll at 13 from the early morning crash on tracks outside the town of Mathura, 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Agra in northern India.

Rescuers, working with mechanical cutters amid a huge crowd of onlookers, battled to free people trapped in a badly mangled carriage that bore the brunt of the collision.

The engine of one train had rammed inside the last carriage of a train in front, reserved for the disabled and luggage. Bloodied bodies and people were pulled from the wreckage before being ferried to local hospitals. "The number of dead from today's accident is 21," a spokesman for local police superintendent B.D. Polson told AFP, adding that 20 were injured in the crash at 5:30 am local time (0000 GMT) that involved two express trains.

Local railway manager Rajendra Dutt Tripathi said 13 were dead and 22 injured. A train from the southern state of Goa heading to New Delhi had run into the back of the stationary Mewar Express, an overnight service linking the state of Rajasthan with the capital, he explained.

Tripathi said initial reports suggested the Mewar Express was at standstill because a passenger had pulled the emergency chain and the driver of the Goa express had overlooked a signal requesting him to stop.

"These are a matter of investigation and a final conclusion can only be reached after a detailed inquiry," he said.

Tripathi said stranded passengers from the trains were being shifted to Delhi and the lines were being cleared. Cranes had been called in to remove two stricken carriages still standing on the tracks. "There was a loud bang and we were suddenly thrown out of our seats," a passenger on the Mewar Express told the Press Trust of India.

"People and luggage from the upper berths fell on us and there was panic everywhere," he said.

R.D. Vajpayee, chief spokesman for northern railways, told NDTV that the company would pay 500,000 rupees (10,800 dollars) to the families of the dead. The state-run railway system -- still the main form of long-distance travel in India despite fierce competition from new private airlines -- carries 18.5 million people daily.

There are 300 accidents on the railways every year. In February, at least 16 people were killed and 60 injured when 12 carriages of a passenger train derailed in eastern India.

Past accidents have left hundreds dead.

In 2002, 100 were killed and 150 hurt when a carriage plunged into a river in the northeastern state of Bihar, while in 1995 more than 300 died in a collision near Ferozabad, again near Agra.