Gyaneshwari Express derails in West Bengal

Around 100 passengers were killed and 200 injured when 13 coaches of a Mumbai-bound express train derailed in West Midnapore district on early Friday morning after Maoists sabotaged the train tracks.

As the rescue efforts were on, more bodies were pulled out from the wreckage of the mangled coaches. The rescuers were working throughout the night.

Scores of anxious relatives have been running from pillar to post trying to gather some information, hoping their loved ones are not among the dead or the injured.

Top officials met in Ranchi to discuss the threat to trains from Naxals on Saturday. (AP Image)

According to South Eastern Railway officials,the incident occurred at 1:30 am when the Howrah-Kurla Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Super Deluxe Express was running between Khemasoli and Sardiya stations, about 135 km from Kolkata.(AP Image)

Five of the 13 derailed coaches fell on an adjacent track and were hit by a goods train coming from the opposite direction, Additional Superintendent of Police, Jhargram, Mukesh Kumar said. (AP Image)

While Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that train derailment in West Bengal appears to be a case of sabotage, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said a bomb blast as part of a "calculated attack" caused the Gyaneshwari Express to first derail and then get hit by a goods train. (AP Image)

The West Bengal police have said that Maoist-backed organization People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) has claimed responsibility for the Gyaneshwari Express accident.(AP Image)

Indian Air Force helicopters have been pressed into service at the accident spot and have airlifted some of the injured to hospitals.(AP Image)

The bodies of the passengers were removed from the mangled remains of the ill-fated coaches and the injured taken out with the help of gas cutters, a South Eastern Railway spokesman said. (AP Image)

Railway Minister , Mamta Banerjee said that a patrol engine had passed through the area half an hour earlier, but the timing of the blast proved disastrous with a portion of the line being blown away.(AP Image)

Railways PRO Soumitra Majumdar said the train had 24 coaches. After the explosion, 13 including 10 sleeper coaches, derailed of which five were hit by the goods train coming on the opposite track.(AP Image)

The state government would bear the treatment cost of the injured passengers, Chief Minister's secretariat sources said.(AP Image)

Relief officials used gas cutters to extricate trapped passengers and bodies from the mangled remains of the affected coaches. Passengers belongings lay strewn scattered on the tracks.(AP Image)

Angry passengers said the first signs of relief came only around 5 am, three-and-a-half hours after the incident.(AP Image)

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed grief over the loss of lives in the incident and announced Rs two lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for the injured. (AP Image)

Mamata Banerjee also announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the next of kin of each of the dead and Rs 1 lakh for the injured.(NDTV Image)

This is the second Maoist attack on civilians this month. Naxals had blown up a civilian bus in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on May 17, killing at least 36 people, including 12 Special Police Officers.(NDTV Image)

After the Maoist attack on the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express in West Bengal on Friday, the Railways is considering halting night operations in five Naxal-hit states.(NDTV Image)