At least 21 dead after train accident in India

Two passenger trains collided in India early on Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring more than twenty others, reports have said. The accident occurred at around 05:30 local time, when a passenger train crashed into another train which was stopped at a red light near the northern city of Agra.

Both the trains were in the last stretch of their journey when the collision occured. They were going to the capital, New Delhi, which is about 150 kilometers to the north of the accident site.

Passengers said they were sleeping when they felt a heavy jolt. One eyewitness told television crews that people on the upper berths of the train fell down because of the impact: "We felt a massive jolt. People sleeping on upper berths fell to the floor."

Another passenger recalled that "there was a loud bang and we were suddenly thrown out of our seats. There was panic everywhere."

A northern railway spokesperson, R. D. Vajpayee, told the Voice of America news agency that the end car of the stopped train took most of the collision's impact. "We had to rescue, take out the passengers which were trapped in the last coach. And, gas cutters were used, and we had called the army also. They had assisted us and, within a few hours, we had completed with rescue operations."

An anonymous witness told the CNN-IBN news agency that "there are many people who are injured and many people who are dead. A lot of people fell onto the tracks because of the impact of the collision."

Railway officials claim that they are unsure as to what caused the accident, but one of the trains may have ignored a signal to stop. An inquiry into the incident has been filed.