LUCKNOW, May 12: At least 12 people were killed and scores injured on Sunday when a train in northern India jumped the tracks in a disaster railway officials blamed on sabotage.

“The preliminary inquiry at the site has reported the prima facie cause of the incident as sabotage,” a Northern Railway statement said. The motive for the sabotage was not known.

“Twelve people have been killed and 70 injured..,” a railway spokesman told Reuters in New Delhi. He said 48 of the injured were in hospital.

Thirteen coaches of the 24-coach train derailed near a village in Uttar Pradesh state. The train was travelling from the national capital, New Delhi, to Patna in eastern Bihar state.

Rescue workers worked frantically to pull victims from the wreckage as anxious relatives of passengers gathered at railway stations in New Delhi and Patna clamouring for information.

Divisional Railway Manager Kamlesh Gupta said a relief train with doctors and other personnel was rushed to the site from Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh, 200 km from the crash site.

Railways Minister Nitish Kumar said in Patna an inquiry had been ordered. “Some plates which were removed from the track have been shown to the local police,” Kumar said.

Two cranes were at the site to lift the derailed cars off the tracks to restore service.—Reuters