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Jan. 22 (UPI) -- At least 36 passengers died in a train derailment in the southern India state of Andhra Pradesh, officials said Sunday. Dozens more were injured when eight coaches and the engine of the Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Express left the tracks at 11:15 p.m. Saturday near the border of the neighboring eastern state of Odisha, an unidentified senior railway official told China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
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The train was going from Jagdalpur in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh to Odisha capital of Bhubaneswar.
Enku Swamy, the district fire officer for Vizianagaram, said rescuers took about 40 minutes to reach the remote site.
"Some people died because of a stampede inside the derailed coaches," Swamy said.
Madan Mohal Nial, 21, who was travelling to take an exam for a government job, was among the passengers injured.
"We heard a loud noise suddenly, and the train coaches turned upside down," he told The New York Times from a hospital bed. "Many passengers fell down on me. My left hand got trapped in the window rods and got injured."
Twenty-seven passengers were admitted to the nearby Government Area Hospital in Parvatipuram.
"Most of the injured suffered abdominal and chest crush injuries, and multiple bone fractures on upper and lower limbs," said Dr. G. Nagabhusana Rao, medical superintendent of the hospital.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the tragedy as "saddening" in a post on Twitter.
Indian Railways announced a compensation of $4,000 each for the families of those killed and $1,000 for those injured.
India's railways transport 23 million people a day over more than 70,000 miles of track.
In 2014, there were more than 27,000 train-related deaths in India.
The Indian government in 2015 announced investments of $14 billion over five years to improve the railways.
