The death toll from India's worst train accident in years rose to 145 on Monday, as rescuers used cranes to lift the twisted metal wreckage to check for more bodies underneath, AP reported. The passenger train was about midway through a 27-hour journey between the cities of Indore and Patna when it slid off the tracks at 3:10 a.m. Sunday. The impact was so strong that one of the coaches landed atop another, crushing the one below. Passengers were jolted awake and said they heard the crash as they were flung from their beds. "There was a loud sound like an earthquake. I fell from my berth and a lot of luggage fell over me," Ramchandra Tewari, who suffered a head injury, said from his hospital bed in the industrial city of Kanpur. "I thought I was dead, and then I passed out." Rescue workers, soldiers and members of India's disaster management force worked through the night to pull out people trapped amid the twisted metal and overturned coaches near Pukhrayan, a village outside Kanpur about 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of New Delhi. They used cutting torches to pry open cars and cranes to lift coaches from the tracks, moving carefully to prevent any cars from toppling over and injuring those trapped inside. By Monday morning, they had searched the last of the 14 wrecked cars, but had yet to lift the coach from the tracks to see if more bodies had been trapped beneath. "The search operation at the site is almost over. I'm saying 'almost,' because they are trying to lift the coach with the help of cranes, and check if there are any bodies," Indian Railways spokesman Anil Saxena said. "We can be sure only after the coach is lifted up and removed from the track." The accident killed at least 145, of which 116 had been identified, according to Dr. Aneeta Singh, the chief medical officer of Kanpur Dehat district where Pukhrayan village is located. Roughly 226 people were hurt, including 76 with serious injuries, according to local police Inspector General Zaki Ahmad. Medical teams provided first aid near the site, while those in more serious condition were moved to hospitals in Kanpur.
