PATNA, India — An express train on its way from Calcutta to New Delhi jumped the tracks, sending one of the cars plunging 300 feet into a river and leaving two others dangling from a bridge, officials said today. At least 80 people died and nearly 180 were injured, the Associated Press reported.
Authorities said they suspected sabotage, as the tracks appeared to have been tampered with. The crash occurred in an area of eastern India where communist rebels are active.
By tonight, 67 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage and 13 injured people had died in hospitals in three nearby towns, said the area’s top railway official, K.K. Saxena. One train car had not yet been pried open.
Bandaru Dattatreya, deputy minister for railroads, said 13 cars of the Rajdhani Express left the tracks late Monday night as the train was crossing a bridge near the town of Rafiganj, about 420 miles southeast of New Delhi. One of the 13 cars fell into the Dhave River.
The train was carrying about 540 passengers and more than 80 railroad workers, said Subhash Ranajan Thakur, deputy chief of Eastern Railways.
Two cars were still dangling from the bridge, said R.K. Singh, a state telecommunications officer, speaking by satellite phone from the scene of the derailment. He said many passengers were still trapped in the car that was partially submerged in the river.
“Our preliminary reports say that this is sabotage,” Dattatreya said, adding that some of the iron plates used to join the train tracks had been removed.
The People’s War Group and several other Maoist rebel groups are active in eastern India. One of the group’s senior leaders was recently arrested.