NALGONDA (India), Oct 29: More than 100 people were killed on Saturday and 20 to 30 more were feared dead when a passenger train derailed and toppled into swirling floodwaters in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

The Delta Fast Passenger train derailed as it hit a section of the track at Nalgonda, about 70 kilometres from the state capital Hyderabad.

“While over 100 bodies have been recovered from the site, 20 to 30 passengers are feared to have been washed away,” home minister of Andhra Pradesh state, K. Jana Reddy, told reporters.

The engine and the first seven carriages fell into the floodwaters when the train hit breaches in the track caused by water overflowing from reservoirs following incessant rains in the region in the last two days, he said.

The railways ministry earlier said more than 100 people were injured and had been sent to hospital and that 1,100 passengers, including those rescued, had been sent on to their destinations after the accident.

An eyewitness counted at least 50 bodies laid out on the bank of the massive body of floodwater, which is usually a small stream.

Heavy rains have battered southern India for more than a week, causing almost 100 other deaths in house collapses and drownings in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The corpses of men and women — adults and children — lay on the soft marshy ground, many clad in brightly coloured but now sodden clothes.

Some looked as if they were sleeping. One man died with his arm outstretched as if grasping for someone or something.

Two army helicopters which had been hauling bodies away with a rope and harness called off operations because it was proving too difficult, officials at the scene said.

Rescue teams, with the help of local villagers, were instead using ropes to help them wade through the water to reach the train carriages and then drag bodies onto higher land.

Two men helped each other carry the body of a little boy, one taking him by the arms, the other holding the child’s legs.

Fourteen inflatable boats were brought in to help with the removal of the bodies, a disaster management official said.

The Press Trust of India reported that rescue teams used cutting tools to break into the mangled compartments.

Ashim Khurana, joint secretary in the home ministry for disaster management, said naval divers had joined the rescue mission.

Mr Khurana emphasized the difficulty of the task.

“You can’t access the train because of the gushing water. The rear engine is pulling the train (into the water).”

Television pictures showed brown muddy waters swirling around the wreckage. Passengers waiting to be rescued stood on top of some of the carriages which had not been fully submerged.—AFP