A “human error” led to a deadly train crash that killed at least 14 passengers and injured nearly 50 in India’s southeastern Andhra Pradesh state, local officials have reported.
A passenger train overshot a signal on Sunday between the towns of Alamanda and Kantakapalle in the Vizianagaram district, striking a stationary train. At least three cars were derailed in the accident, Saurabh Prasad, a senior railway officer, said.
Government officials told reporters on Monday that rescue efforts were over and the focus was now on track restoration.
Hundreds of accidents happen every year on India’s railways, with most of them blamed on human error or outdated signalling equipment. More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India each day, travelling on 64,000km (40,000-mile) network.
Sunday’s accident comes just four months after at least 288 people were killed in a three-train collision in June this year in India’s worst rail accident in more than two decades.
