NEW DELHI: At least 14 members of a wedding party died on Sunday when a van in which they were travelling was hit by a passenger train in eastern India, reports said.

Seven women, including the bride, and an infant were among those killed in the accident in Orissa state’s Sambalpur district, the Press Trust of India quoted police as saying.

The van stalled while it was trying to cross rail tracks and was hit by the speeding train which dragged it for 200 metres before the vehicle exploded in flames, officer U.S Maharana said.

The United News of India said local inhabitants set fire to the train to protest the collision. Such accidents are not uncommon in India where almost 100,000 rail-road crossings are unmanned.—AFP