At least 207 individuals have been killed and about 900 injured after two passenger trains collided within the japanese Indian state of Odisha.

The Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, collided with one other passenger prepare, the Howrah Superfast Express, railway officers mentioned on Friday.

The Howrah Superfast Express derailed and have become entangled with the Coromandel Express, South Eastern Railway authorities mentioned in an announcement. Media experiences had earlier mentioned the crash was between the Coromandel Express and a items prepare.

The demise toll is predicted to extend, the state chief secretary, Pradeep Jena, mentioned in a tweet. Sudhanshu Sarangi, the director common of the fireplace division in Odisha, instructed Reuters that 207 our bodies had been recovered up to now.

One survivor instructed native tv information that he had been sleeping when the accident occurred and woke to seek out himself trapped beneath a couple of dozen passengers earlier than crawling out from the carriage with solely accidents to his neck and arm.

SK Panda, a spokesperson in Jena’s workplace in Odisha state, referred to as it “a heavy accident”.

“We expect that the rescue work will continue till at least tomorrow morning,” Panda mentioned.

“On our part, we have prepared all big government and private hospitals from the accident site to the state capital to cater to the injured.”

The spokesperson added authorities had already rushed “75 ambulances to the site and had also deployed many buses” to move the injured passengers and survivors from the location.

Images from the scene confirmed rescuers climbing up the mangled wreck of one of many trains to seek out survivors.

Hundreds of younger individuals lined up exterior a authorities hospital within the metropolis of Soro in Odisha to donate blood.

An witness instructed Reuters: “I was there at the site and I can see bloods, broken limbs and people dying around me.”

The Odisha chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, mentioned authorities’ precedence was “removing the living to the hospitals, that’s our first concern, to look after the living”.

Rescue operations have been beneath manner on the web site and “all possible assistance” is being given to these affected, the prime minister, Narendra Modi, mentioned.

Modi tweeted: “In this hour of grief, my thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon.”

Rescue groups have been mobilised from Odisha’s Bhubaneswar and Kolkata in West Bengal, the federal minister for railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw, added.

The National Disaster Response Force, state authorities groups and the air pressure had additionally mobilised to answer the incident, he mentioned.

Despite authorities efforts to enhance security, a number of hundred accidents happen yearly on India’s railways, which with 40,000 miles (64,000km) of monitor is the world’s largest community beneath one administration.

Two trains collided close to Delhi in August 1995, killing 358 individuals within the worst prepare accident in India’s historical past.

Most prepare accidents are blamed on human error or outdated signalling tools. More than 12 million individuals journey on 14,000 trains a day throughout India.