Rescue teams and onlookers gather next to wreckage at the accident site of a three-train collision near Balasore, about 200 km (125 miles) from the state capital Bhubaneswar in the eastern state of Odisha, on June 3, 2023. At least 288 people were killed and more than 850 injured in a horrific three-train collision in India, officials said on June 3, the country's deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years. (Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR / AFP)
NEW DELHI, June 3 (AP): The latest deadly train crash in India happened Friday, when two passenger trains derailed - killing more than 280 people, injuring more than 900 and trapping hundreds of others inside more than a dozen damaged rail cars, officials said.
More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India daily, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track. Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents happen annually on India’s railways. Most are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.
Here's a look at other deadly India train crashes in recent decades:
October 2018 - A train ran over a crowd watching fireworks during a religious festival in northern India, killing at least 60 people and injuring dozens more on the outskirts of Amritsar, a city in Punjab state.
November 2016 - At least 146 people were killed when a passenger train traveling between the cities of Indore and Patna slid off the tracks. More than 200 people were injured.
July 2011 - A passenger train jumped tracks near Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh state in northern India, killing 68 people and leaving 239 passengers injured.
May 2010 - A passenger train derailed and was hit by a cargo train, killing 145 people in West Bengal state. Authorities blamed sabotage by Maoist rebels for the crash.
October 2005 - A passenger train plunged into a rain-swollen river in southern India, killing at least 111 people. About 100 injured passengers were rescued from coaches that derailed after floods washed away tracks in the town of Veligonda in Andhra Pradesh state.
September 2002 - An express train traveling from Calcutta to New Delhi jumped its tracks and plunged into a river, killing at least 121 people. The accident happened south of the Bihar state capital of Patna.
August 1999 - Two trains collided head-on in the city of Gauhati, killing more than 285 people.
November 1998 - Two trains collided in the northern town of Khanna, killing 210 people. The crash happened when a passenger train hit cars that had uncoupled from another train.
August 1995 - Two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people. One of the trains had stopped after hitting a cow.
