At least 13 dead in Indian train collision

At least 13 people were killed with 39 injured in a collision between two passenger trains in India's Andhra Pradesh state on Sunday, a senior government official said.

The railway ministry said in a statement that two coaches of one of the trains carrying passengers were derailed and a preliminary investigation found that "human error" had led to the collision, caused by "overshooting of signal" by the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train between Alamanda and Kantakapalle.

Nagalakshmi. S, a senior government official stationed in Vizianagaram, a district near the accident site, told Reuters that 27 people were injured and more than 90 people were travelling in the two coaches hit by the collision.

The accident occurred when the Visakhapatnam-Rayagada passenger train stopped due to a break in an overhead cable and the oncoming train, a Visakhapatnam-Palasa Express service, rammed into it, derailing carriages of the stationary train, a senior railways official said.

Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy ordered immediate relief measures to be taken and asked for ambulances to be rushed from Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli, the nearest districts to Vizianagaram, his office said in a statement.

The minister also issued orders to coordinate other government departments to initiate disaster-relief measures.

On Sunday, Modi said on social media platform X that he had spoken with the railways minister.

"Authorities are providing all possible assistance to those affected," he said.