At least 20 people were killed and about 100 injured on Wednesday when a passenger train plunged off a bridge in western India after hitting a boulder on the tracks, railways minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said.
The accident occurred early morning on a bridge between Veer and Karanjadi stations about 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the commercial hub Mumbai in western Maharashtra state, police said.
Television footage showed mangled coaches of the Matsyagandha Express lying on their sides while two carriages hung precariously from the bridge.
The locomotive was on its side on the river bed and rescuers were trying to free passengers from the twisted carriages.
"According to my information, 20 people were killed and 100 were injured in the accident," Yadav told a press conference in the eastern metropolis of Calcutta.
"Landslides on the railway tracks, triggered by heavy rains, might have caused the accident. I am going to the spot to personally supervise rescue and relief work," he said.
The Hindi Zee television news channel quoted the driver of the train as saying he had seen a boulder on the tracks and applied emergency brakes.
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