An Indian express train has ploughed into a crowd of Hindu pilgrims in the country's east , killing 35 and triggering a riot as angry crowds went on the rampage, officials said.
The pilgrims were crossing the tracks at a station in the state of Bihar when the interstate passenger train ran into them, injuring dozens, a senior police officer said.
"Until now we have information that 35 people have been killed in the incident and dozens are injured," S.K. Bharadwaj, an additional director general of police, who is overseeing security at the crash site, told AFP.
Crowds converged on the Rajya Rani Express, setting carriages on fire and ransacking Dharhara station, some 178 kilometres from the state capital Patna, local railway chief Arun Malik said.
"Six carriages have been set on fire and the station has been ransacked by the mob. Our staff have fled the station fearing attacks," Malik said.
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A senior railways official said it appeared the pilgrims were not aware of the incoming express train.
"Two trains were already stationary on other tracks and the Rajya Rani Express was given permission to pass," Arunendra Kumar, chairman of the national railway board, told reporters in New Delhi.
"The accident occurred because some people left the platform of the station and came on the tracks," Kumar said.
He said he has received reports from officials on the ground that the angry mob has tried to attack the train driver, and medical teams are on site.
"We are getting information that the train has been damaged and some coaches have been set on fire," he said.
"We don't know the status of the other staff but the train driver has been injured by the mobs surrounding the train."
"We have rushed emergency medical teams to help those injured in this accident."
There are hundreds of accidents on the railways annually.
In 2012, a government report said that almost 15,000 people were killed every year crossing India's rail which it described as an annual "massacre" due to poor safety standards.
