The accident occurred on Tuesday as a jeep, crammed with 19 people, tried to quickly cross an unmanned railway crossing near the Madhu Railway Station in the town of Hathras, some 296 kilometers from state capital Lucknow.
“The jeep was thrown some 20 feet (six meters) away,” a state home ministry official who declined to give his name told AFP, adding that 15 passengers were killed instantly and four others were critically injured.
India’s railway network is one of the world’s largest, transporting some 18 million people a day on its aging trains.
The last major train accident occurred in July last year when a packed express train travelling from Kolkata to New Delhi derailed at high speed in the state of Uttar Pradesh, killing 69 people.
India’s worst rail accident was in 1981 when a train plunged into a river in the eastern state of Bihar, killing an estimated 800 people.
FTP/MA
Views: 0