At least 4 killed, several injured after passenger train derails in eastern India

At least four people have been killed and over 20 others injured after several cars of a passenger train derailed on Wednesday night in eastern India, officials said.

According to Indian Railways, coaches of the North East Express train en route from the capital New Delhi to the northeastern city of Guwahati derailed at 9.35 p.m. local time (1605GMT) in the Danapur region of Bihar state.

Tarun Prakash, a senior Indian Railways official, told reporters at the site in the district of Buxar, that four people were confirmed dead and several others injured.

Earlier, district police chief Manish Kumar had said over 20 people were injured in the incident, with local media reports suggesting that the total injured numbered in the dozens.

Indian Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on X that rescue efforts were ongoing and that they were on "war footing."

"Railway officials, and local residents are all working as one team. Injured shifted to hospital. War room operating," he said.

He added that the rescue operation would soon be complete, with work to restore the track to resume "immediately after that."

Bihar's deputy chief minister said the government was "actively engaged in rescue, relief and treatment of the victims and injured."

Today's incident came after a massive train crash in the eastern state of Odisha in June this year, involving two passenger trains and a freight train. Over 290 people died in the incident and more than 1,000 others were injured in what was the country's worst railway disaster in recent history.