NEW DELHI, July 18, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A passenger train derailed Thursday in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh and medics were dispatched to the site, a local medical officer said, with footage of the accident showing several overturned carriages.

The Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailed in Gonda district, near the Hindu holy city of Ayodhya, at around 2:30 pm (0900 GMT), Indian media reported.

Anil Kumar Tiwari, chief medical superintendent of Gonda District Hospital, told AFP that a team of medics had been rushed to the accident site.

India's railway network remains the main form of travel in the vast country, but it is poorly funded and deadly accidents often occur.

Last year nearly 300 people were killed when a passenger train collided with a stationary goods train, with the derailed compartments then striking another fast-moving passenger service.

India's worst ever rail accident occurred in 1981, when a cyclone blew a train off its tracks and into a river in the state of Bihar, leaving 800 dead and more than 100 injured.