At least 31 dead and more than 100 hurt as train derails in India

RESCUERS searched the wreckage of a packed express train for people trapped inside after it derailed in northern India yesterday, killing at least 31 and injuring 100 others.

The Kalka Mail train was on its way to Kalka, in the foothills of the Himalayas, from Howrah, a station near Kolkata in eastern India, when 12 carriages and the engine jumped the tracks at Malwan station, near Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh state, said AK Jain, a senior railway official.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately clear, but it appeared that the driver applied the emergency brakes, Mr Jain said.

At least 31 people were killed and rescuers pulled at least 100 injured out of the wreckage.

The accident site was a pile of twisted metal. At least one carriage flew above the roof of another ahead of it.