Human error blamed as train collision kills 13 people

The death toll from a collision between two passenger trains in southern India has risen to 13.

Officials said a further 25 people had been injured in Sunday’s crash which happened in Andhra Pradesh state’s Vizianagaram district when an incoming train hit a stationary train, leading to the derailment of at least three rail carriages, senior railway officer Saurab Prasad said.

He said a preliminary investigation had found human error was to blame.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy asked authorities to send as many ambulances as possible to the crash site and ordered other relief measures.

Train crashes are common in India and are often blamed mostly on human error or outdated signalling equipment.

In June, more than 280 people were killed in one of the country’s deadliest rail crashes in decades after two passenger trains rammed into each other in eastern India.

More than 12 million people use 14,000 trains across India every day, travelling on 40,000 miles of track.