At least 12 people were killed and 11 injured in India on Wednesday evening when another person got off the train and was hit on the tracks.
Passengers disembarked after rumors of a fire on the train caused panic among those on board, officials said.
Police Inspector Ashok Pawar of Pachora police station said the accident happened around 5pm in Maharashtra state, about 170 miles northeast of Mumbai. According to him, the passengers were on the Pushpak Express train from the northern Indian city of Lucknow to Mumbai in the west, when the fire spread on board.
Panic ensued and people started leaving the train when it stopped, Mr. Pawar said. They were hit by another train, the Karnataka Express, which was passing on the adjacent track.
It was not clear how many passengers were on the Pushpak Express. Mr. Pawar said the train was full of people, many of them migrant workers on their way to work. According to him, those injured as a result of the accident were seriously injured.
Authorities said they are investigating the episode.
Maheswar Reddy, superintendent of police in Jalgaon district where the accident took place, said, “We will investigate what was the cause, whether it was an actual fire or a rumor spread by some mischievous person.” he said to journalists.
Inspector Mr. Pawar said that 7 of the dead were from Nepal and 4 from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh state in northern India. One body has not been identified and the victims' families are now in Jalgaon, he said.
Devendra Fadnavis, a senior Maharashtra government official, said eight ambulances had been dispatched to the scene by Wednesday evening. The state government will offer financial assistance to the families of the victims, he said he said on social media and will cover the costs of the injured people.
The crash has raised more questions about the safety of train travel in India, where millions of people depend on an extensive but accident-prone rail network for transport, especially in rural areas.