10 killed, 30 injured in train collision in Uttar Pradesh, India

May 20, 2015

Representational Image. (Photo: PTI)

Bijnor: A train rammed into a tractor pulling a wagon loaded with people at an unmanned railroad crossing in Uttar Pradesh, killing 10 people and injuring more than 30 others, a police official said Wednesday.

The tractor was crossing the railroad track near the town of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh when it was hit by the passenger train late Tuesday, said Shailendra Lal, a police officer in Bijnor.  

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India, with 200 million people on 1 March 2011.

The wagon was overcrowded with people returning from a ceremony at a nearby Hindu holy town near the Ganges River, Lal said.

Thirty-three people were injured in the accident. Six of them were in critical condition and were taken to a hospital in the nearest big city of Meerut.

The accident site was about 350 kilometers (220 miles) from Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

Railway accidents are common in the country, which has one of the world's largest train networks serving about 23 million passengers a day. A lack of money and safety devices means that hundreds of dangerous crossings in the country are not guarded around the clock.