Two British tourists confirmed dead after train derails in India

The Foreign Office confirmed this afternoon two Britons died in the train derailment
AP Photo/Kapil Sethi
Ramzy Alwakeel|Laura Proto12 September 2015

Two British tourists have died and several people are injured after a train derailed in northern India.

Police and rescuers pulled dozens of passengers from the nine coaches that fell on their side near Gulbarga in Karnataka state after the train derailed at about 2.15am, Indian Railway spokesman Anil Saksena said.

The BBC reported the train had been organised to carry 37 Brits to Shimla in the Himalayas. The mountain railway is a popular tourist destination and Unesco world heritage site.

Mr Saksena added the injured parties were taken to hospitals in Gulbarga. It is not known what caused the crash.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed this afternoon that two Britons had been killed in the derailment.

MP Hugo Swire, minister for Asia, said: "I am deeply saddened that two British nationals have been killed and many other injured in a train accident in northern India. My thoughts are with their family and friends at this difficult time.

"Teams from the British High Commission in New Delhi and Deputy High Commission in Chandigarh are on their way to the area to help all those affected."

Travel company Great Rail Journeys, based in York, confirmed one of its escorted groups had been involved in the incident.

The group was travelling from Kalka to Shimla and Peter Liney, chief executive of Great Rail Journeys, said 36 passengers and one tour manager were on the train at the time.

He said: "Tragically, we can confirm that two passengers died in the accident.

"We are working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to assist their relatives in travelling to India as soon as possible.

"A number of other passengers were injured in the accident and were taken from the scene to a local hospital.

"Two passengers and the tour manager have been admitted overnight; we do not believe their injuries are life-threatening. All other passengers have now been transferred to a hotel.

"A total of 36 passengers plus one tour manager were on the train when the accident took place. They were all travelling on a 13-day tour of India and were on day three."

The group were travelling on a four-carriage tourist train that had been chartered by the travel company when the accident happened at about 1pm local time.

The company said its local representatives were at the scene and senior staff will be flying out as soon as possible, along with qualified counsellors.

Mr Liney added: "At present, we do not have any further details to provide and our absolute priority is to support and help the families of those people who have so tragically died, along with those in hospital in India and at the hotel."

The tour, India's Golden Triangle, departed for India on September 10 and was due to finish on September 22.

The cause of the derailment is not yet known.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in