At least 50 dead as train hits crowd watching fireworks in India. Victims were stood on tracks during festival in Amritsar, says a Congress party leader

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People gather at the site of the accident in Amritsar. Photograph: Prabhjot Gill/AP
▼ A speeding train has run over a crowd watching fireworks during a religious festival in northern India, killing at least 50 people, according to a Congress party leader.
Pratap Singh Bajwa said the train had failed to stop after the accident on the outskirts of Amritsar, Punjab.
Amarinder Singh, the state’s top elected official, also told journalists that he had reports of 50 to 60 people dead. Thirty bodies had been removed from the site by Friday evening.
A witness said the train had not even sounded its whistle as it sped past the site, where hundreds were watching the burning of an effigy of the demon king Ravana during the Hindu festival of Dussehra.
“Why did authorities allow the fireworks display so close to the railroad?” he asked. He told the Republic TV channel that he had lost two brothers.
Another witness said the victims had not realised that a train was coming their way because the fireworks were too loud.
Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a local Congress party politician who was the chief guest at the religious function, said the celebrations take place in the area every year and railroad authorities are alerted to run the trains at slow speeds.
She said there are homes on both sides of the track.
Following the accident, people rushed to the site and shouted at railway officials. The site of the accident is nearly 290 miles (465km) north of New Delhi.
Rajesh Sharma, a magistrate, was quoted by the Press Trust of India, saying that 50 bodies had been found and at least 50 injured people were admitted to a government-run hospital.
As the effigy was lit and the fireworks started at the religious function, a section of the crowd started moving towards the tracks while watching the event.
Although accidents are relatively common on India’s sprawling rail network, this was among the country’s deadliest in recent years.
In 2016, 146 people were killedwhen a train derailed in eastern India.

► Article originally published in: Source