At least 25 people died when two passenger trains derailed in central India after heavy monsoon rains flooded railway tracks, officials said Wednesday. Ten coaches from the trains toppled while approaching a small bridge in Madhya Pradesh's Harda district just before midnight. Railway minister Suresh Prabhu said sudden floods in the region caused the Mochak river to overflow. "Preliminary investigations suggest that the derailment occurred because the tracks collapsed after heavy rains," railway spokesman KK Dubey said. "The soil and base material underneath the tracks was washed away in the downpour." The accidents involving one train en route from Mumbai to the temple city of Varanasi, and another headed in the opposite direction, occurred within minutes of each other. "A total of 25 people died in the accident, most of them died on the scene," district police chief Prem Babu Sharma said from the accident site, 160 kilometres north of state capital Bhopal. "Forty five more injured passengers were taken to nearby hospitals." Ten women and five children were among the victims. As many as 300 people were rescued overnight, broadcaster NDTV reported. "We have completed checks of the coaches, we have rescued all those who were trapped. Work is on to extricate the coaches from the flooded area," Sharma added. -- SPA 18:22 LOCAL TIME 15:22 GMT تغريد
