BHUBNESHWAR - At least 15 people were killed and more than 160 injured when a train derailed in eastern India, a railroad official said Saturday.
Onlookers stand beside the wreckage of a derailed train near the remote Jajpur Road station, about 120 km (75 miles) east from the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar, February 14, 2009. Authorities have ordered a probe into an express train derailment in Orissa that killed 15 people and injured about 160, a senior railway official said on Saturday. [Agencies]
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Forty people hospitalized were in serious condition, but their injuries were not life-threatening, said J.P. Mishra, spokesman for the East Coast Railway.
The accident occurred Friday night in Orissa state near the town of Jajpur, about 65 miles (110 kilometers) north of the city of Bhubneshwar, said Mishra.
The rescue operation was over and authorities were investigating why 16 of the carriages went of the tracks, he said. The train was on its way from Calcutta to Chennai when it derailed.
Accidents are common on India's sprawling rail network, which is one of the world's largest, with most accidents blamed on poor maintenance.