A passenger train derailed on Wednesday skidded off track in eastern India, trapping many people inside its derailed coaches, officials announced.
At least, 170 passengers sustained injuries and had been taken to the hospitals for adequate care, media reports said.
The director-general of state fire services, Sudhanshu Sarangi, confirmed at least 17 deaths but New Delhi television news channel reported that 30 people were feared dead.
Rescuers workers had made efforts to free another 200 people trapped in the derailed coaches, said D.B. Shinde, the Balasore district administrator in Odisha state.
The cause of the derailment is yet to be ascertained.
Amitabh Sharma, a spokesperson in charge of railroad ministry said some mangled pieces of the derailed train fell onto a nearby track and were hit by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction, Associated Press reported.
The Press Trust of India news agency said the derailed Coromandel Express was traveling from Howrah in West Bengal state to Chennai, the capital of southern Tamil Nadu state.
Television images showed rescue teams trying to take passengers out of mangled coaches.
New Delhi television news reported that 179 people were taken to hospitals.
Accidents are recurrent on India’s railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.
In August 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in the worst train accident in India’s history.
