BHUBANESWAR (India), Feb 13: At least 15 people were killed and 150 injured on Friday when 12 carriages of a passenger train derailed in eastern India, a railway spokesman and reports said, with the toll expected to rise.

The high-speed Coromandel Express, connecting the eastern metropolis of Kolkata and the southern city of Madras, jumped tracks at Jajpur, 100 kilometres from Orissa’s state capital Bhubaneswar.

“We have 15 people dead,” said spokesman for eastern railways Murlidhar Sahoo.

Many passengers were trapped in the derailed carriages raising fears of the casualty numbers rising, he said.

It was not immediately known why the train jumped the tracks.

The PTI quoted eyewitnesses at the accident site as saying some carriages were badly smashed and the train had been travelling at high speed when it derailed.

“It was very dark and I could hear the shouts of many for help. There was utter chaos,” survivor Anupam Nayak was quoted as saying.

“We were fortunate as several coaches including the one adjacent to ours not only derailed but overturned,” he said.

Many passengers were seen trying to climb out of windows of the overturned coaches, he added.—AFP