Three dead and 50 injured in train crash in India

[John Ashworth]

Three dead and 50 injured in train crash in India

AOL By Ruth Doherty, Feb 4, 2012

At least three people have died and 50 injured after a passenger [train] derailed in India.

The train crashed into an earth-cutting vehicle on its track in the Kamrup district of Assam.

Indian disaster response personnel have been searching for survivors and onlookers gathered around derailed cars following the accident at Sathi Sarapa village near Gauhati.

The public relations officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway, Jayanta Sarma, told the Asian Age that four compartments of the Bongaigaon-Guwahati Chilarai Passenger train were toppled over.

The driver and a helper of the earth-cutting machine were killed on the spot.

At least one passenger was also killed, although others are feared dead.

Mr Sarma also said that an initial investigation of the incident suggests the driver of the train used emergency breaks [sic] to save the earth-cutting vehicle, which lead to derailment of the passenger train.