Train derailment in India kills at least 23

At least 23 passengers were killed and 64 others were injured after an express train derailed in north India on Saturday, officials said, as rescuers battle to free people trapped in the wreckage.

"Twenty-three people have died and 64 others are injured in the accident. Rescue and relief operations are continuing," G S Priyadarshi, a top civil official at the accident site said. 

Train crashes are frequent in India, which has the world's fourth biggest rail network. Poor investment in past decades in the vast network and rising demand means overcrowded trains are running on creaking infrastructure.

Local television channels showed chaotic scenes at the crash site, with rescuers trying to find the injured amid crowds of people gathered around overturned carriages. At least five carriages had come off the tracks.

"We are struggling to pull out injured, and are waiting for gas cutters to arrive. It's too dark to launch a full fledged search operation, but our teams are trying their best," said Ajay Pandey, a senior police officer at the site.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a message on Twitter saying he was pained by the derailment of the Utkal Express, offering condolences to families of those killed and wishing a speedy recovery to the injured.

Railway network overhaul needed

In June, Reuters reported that a planned $15 billion safety overhaul of India's rail network was facing delays as the state steel company could not meet demand for new rails.

The network is in the middle of a $130 billion, five-year modernisation. The government launched the additional safety overhaul programme in February to tackle a surge in train accidents in the past two years blamed on defective tracks.