At least 50 killed in train crash in India

At least 50 people have been killed and 300 injured after a passenger train derailed and collided with a goods train in eastern India.

Rescuers were attempting to free dozens of more people feared trapped in the derailed coaches, Balasore district administrator DB Shinde said in a statement.

Amitabh Sharma, a railway ministry spokeswoman, said pieces of the derailed train had fallen on to a nearby track where another passenger train travelling in the opposite direction hit them. He did not elaborate on details of the deal, but said details were not immediately known.

Television images show rescue teams trying to remove passengers from mangled coaches. 179 people have been taken to hospital, according to TV news in Delhi.

Despite government initiatives to improve safety, several hundred accidents occur annually on India's railways, which have 40,000 miles 64,000 km of track and is the world's largest network under one management.

Two trains collided near Delhi in August 1995, causing 358 people to die in the worst train accident in India's history.

Human error and inadequate signalling equipment are the main causes of most train accidents.

Over 12 million people travel on 14,000 trains a day in India.