By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 12:50 PM on 28th May 2010
At least sixty five people were killed and 200 injured when a bomb apparently planted by Maoist rebels derailed an overnight passenger train in India, causing it to crash into an oncoming cargo train.
The high-speed train was travelling from Calcutta to the Mumbai suburb of Kurla this morning when 13 cars derailed in a rural part of West Bengal state near the small town of Sardiha, about 90 miles west of Calcutta.
A cargo train then slammed into three of the cars from the other direction.
Attack: Rescue workers gather at the scene of a train crash in Sardiha, east India, which was caused by a bomb believed to be planted by Maoist rebels
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said a bomb had hit the train, but police said they were also looking at other sabotage methods such as the removal of the tracks' 'fish plates'.
'From whatever I have been told the apprehension is the Maoists were involved,' Banerjee said.
A.P. Mishra, general manager of the railway system in that area, said he believed the rail tracks had been sabotaged.
Rescuers at the scene used gas cutters to free passengers trapped in mangled coaches. West Bengal state Home Secretary Samar Ghosh said 65 people were confirmed dead.
Vivek Sahay, a senior railway official, said: 'It was definitely sabotage.'
'The driver heard a loud noise which indicates there could be a blast. A detail investigation will reveal more, but definitely there was lot of tinkering done to the tracks,' he said.
Survivors: Injured passengers are helped at the scene of a crash, which took place as the passenger train travelled through a rebel stronghold of eastern India
Recovery mission: Volunteers carry an injured passenger from the wreck of the train
Chaos: The The Gyaneshwari Express had been travelling to Mumbai when the attack took place
Another official said a portion of the tracks was missing.
A witness reported hearing cries from within side the Gyaneshwari Express after the crash.
'They (railway staff) are still struggling to cut through metal and bring out those trapped inside,' Amitava Rath said.
A reporter described a scene of chaos and panic at the site. 'Rescuers are struggling to save the survivors and get the bodies out,' Naresh Jana said.
'I can see body parts hanging out of the compartments and under the wheels. I can hear people, women, crying for help from inside the affected coaches.'
A spokesman from a hospital in the nearby town of Kharagpur said at least 30 bodies had been brought in by medics.
The derailment took place in an isolated, rural stronghold of India's Maoist rebels, known as Naxalites, who have stepped up attacks in recent months and had called for a four-day general strike from today.
The attack follows an ambush by rebels on a bus in central India last month, which killed 31 police officers and civilians.
Sabotage: More than 200 people were injured in the smash
Derailed: Emergency workers examine the wreckage
Tragedy: The attack comes as Maoist rebels step up their presence in eastern India
The rebels, who have tapped into the rural poor's growing anger at being left out of the country's economic gains, are now present in 20 of the country's 28 states and have an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 fighters, according to the Home Ministry.
They often attack police, government buildings and infrastructure such as railway stations, and have in recent months stepped up attacks in response to a government security offensive to clear them out of their jungle bases.
The incident comes days after a passenger airliner crashed in southern India, killing 158 people, underscoring safety issues and concern that India's ageing infrastructure was failing to keep pace with an economic boom.
Thousands of Maoist fighters live across swathes of eastern and central India. In April, 76 police were killed in an ambush in one of the heaviest tolls in years.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the insurgency as India's biggest internal security challenge and his Congress-led government has been under increasing political pressure to deal with the insurgents.
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