LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Rescuers using cutting torchers and cranes worked through the night to pull apart 14 coaches of a crowded train that went off the tracks in northern India, killing 23 people and injuring more than 80 others, officials said Sunday. A senior official in the Uttar Pradesh government, Arvind Kumar, told the Hindustan Times the train driver had slammed the brakes on after spotting maintenance work on the tracks that was not properly signalled, the newspaper reported. Anil Saxena, a spokesman for the railways, said it was too early to speculate about any potential cause of Saturday’s crash. Railway police and local volunteers were seen trying to help passengers out of the upturned coaches of the Kalinga-Utkal Express, which connects the Hindu holy city of Haridwar with the temple town of Puri, in the eastern state of Orissa. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, sent a message on Twitter saying he was pained by the derailment of the Utkal Express, offering condolences to families of those killed and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured.
A train derails near Khatauli, Uttar Pradesh, India, resulting in at least 23 deaths and 156 injuries.