The accident took place on Sunday evening after a passenger train overshot the signal and hit another from behind on the Howrah-Chennai line in Vizianagaram district, about 68 km north of Vishakhapatnam, the main city of Andhra Pradesh, Xinhua reported.
Three coaches were derailed from the track, and disaster response force personnel were rushed to the spot to carry out rescue work that was going on throughout the night.
“As per our information so far, 11 people were killed and 50 others are injured,” Biswajit Sahu, chief public relations officer of East Coast Railway, said, adding that rescue work has been completed and they were now focusing on the restoration work.
Sahu said 18 trains have been canceled, and 22 trains have been diverted because of the accident.
India’s Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced financial assistance for the families of the victims and those who suffered serious and minor injuries.
This is the second major railway accident this month after the derailment of a passenger train in the eastern Indian state of Bihar on October 12, which killed four.
AMK/PR
