India train crash 'work of Maoist rebels'
(05-28 13:22)
Maoist rebels are suspected of sabotaging a high-speed train in eastern India today, killing at least 65 people after it smashed into the path of a goods train, officials said.
Local television showed the mangled wreckage of capsized carriages across the tracks and the death toll could rise as many passengers were still trapped. At least 200 people were injured.
"As of now we have got information that 65 dead bodies have been recovered. There may be many more,'' Samar Ghosh, Home Secretary of West Bengal state where the incident occurred told NDTV news channel.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said a bomb had hit the train, but police said they were also looking at other sabotage methods such as the removal of the tracks' "fish plates''. "From whatever I have been told the apprehension is the Maoists were involved."
The crash occurred in an area known to be a stronghold of Maoist rebels. Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless, have attacked trains in the past and have stepped up attacks in recent months.
"The driver heard a loud noise which indicates there could be a blast. A detail investigation will reveal more, but definitely there was lot of tinkering done to the tracks,'' Vivek Sahay, a senior railway official, told reporters. "It was definitely sabotage.''
West Bengal official Ghosh said a portion of the tracks was found missing.
The Maoists number thousands of fighters across swathes of eastern and central India. In April, 76 police were killed in an ambush in one of the heaviest tolls in years.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the insurgency as India's biggest internal security challenge and his Congress-led government has been under increasing political pressure to deal with the insurgents.
The Gyaneshwari Express, which was going to Mumbai from the eastern metropolis of Kolkata in West Bengal state, was derailed in the state's Jhargram area at around 1.30am.
"The cries of women and children from inside the compartments have died down. They (railway staff) are still struggling to cut through metal and bring out those trapped inside,'' said Amitava Rath, a local journalist at the scene of the crash.
A reporter of the Telegraph newspaper described a scene of chaos and panic at the site. "Rescuers are struggling to save the survivors and get the bodies out,'' said Naresh Jana. "I can see body parts hanging out of the compartments and under the wheels. I can hear people, women, crying for help from inside the affected coaches.''
The incident comes days after a passenger airliner crashed in southern India, killing 158 people, underscoring safety issues and concern that India's ageing infrastructure was failing to keep pace with an economic boom.
The Maoists had called a "black week'' to condemn what they call police atrocities against innocent villagers and for an immediate halt to an armed campaign against them in India.
The rebels, who often attack police, government buildings and infrastructure such as railway stations, have in recent months stepped up attacks in response to a government security offensive to clear them out of their jungle bases.
The decades-old movement is now present in a third of the country. They are mostly spread in rural pockets of 20 of India's 28 states and hurt potential business worth billions of dollars.
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