High-speed train kills 16
2008-02-28 10:33
New Delhi - A high-speed train ran over and killed at least 16 people in the western Indian state of Gujarat, officials said on Thursday.
The victims, including two women and two children, were walking along the tracks when they were hit by the express late on Wednesday, the United News of India quoted police as saying.
The victims were crossing unguarded rail tracks on foot when a train ploughed into them, police inspector H. M. Patel said.
The train did not stop and had yet to be identified.
The victims were migrant workers and their families from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Patel said.
The mutilated bodies were noticed by the driver of a later train who reported it to the police.
The inspector said the accident occurred in a village near the diamond-polishing city of Surat.
Poor safety measures and unmanned crossings are the cause of frequent rail accidents in India, where more than 13 million people travel on the state-run railways every day.
- AFP