Train crash in India kills at least 12 after passengers reportedly jump onto tracks to escape fire

• In India, at least 12 train passengers were killed and at least six others injured when they jumped out of their carriages in panic to escape a fire that was said to have been hit by a neighboring train.
• A senior railway official told the Press Trust of India that “there was a spark in one of the coaches… and some passengers panicked. They pulled the chain and some jumped onto the tracks.”
• The accident happened in the state of Maharashtra, near the Pardhade railway station, 255 miles northeast of Mumbai, India’s financial capital.

At least 12 passengers on the train died western India Wednesday after they were hit by another train on an adjacent track after they jumped out of their coaches in panic to escape the rumored fire, the Press Trust of India reported.

At least six other people were injured, the news agency quoted police officer Dattatraya Karale as saying.

The accident happened in Maharashtra state, near Pardhade railway station, 255 miles northeast of Mumbai, India’s financial capital.

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PTI said the victims jumped out of the Pushpak Express train which had stopped after some passengers pulled the emergency chain. Those who disembarked were hit by another express train on the adjacent railway line, railway spokesperson Swapnil Nil was quoted as saying by PTI.

“Our preliminary information is that there was a spark in one of the coaches of the Pushpak Express either due to ‘hot axle’ or ‘brake’ (jamming) and some passengers panicked. They pulled the chain and some of them jumped on the rails in the same time, the Karnataka Express was running on the adjacent track,” a senior railway official told PTI.

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Despite the government’s efforts to improve railway safety, hundreds of accidents occur every year on the Indian Railways, which form the largest network of trains under one management in the world.

In 2023, two passenger trains collided after derailing in eastern India, killing more than 280 people and injuring hundreds in one of the country’s deadliest rail accidents in decades.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi focuses on the modernization of Britain’s colonial-era railway network in India, which has become the world’s most populous country at 1.42 billion.