Indian rescue workers search for survivors in the wreckage of a train that derailed near Pukhrayan in Kanpur district on November 20, 2016
© AFPIndian rescue workers search for survivors in the wreckage of a train that derailed near Pukhrayan in Kanpur district on November 20, 2016
At least 91 people were killed and scores injured when 14 cars of an express train derailed near the town of Pukhrayan in Uttar Pradesh in northern India, AFP reported, citing police. Relief teams have rushed to the scene.

"The death toll has unfortunately increased and it is 91 now," Daljit Singh Chawdhary, additional police director general of Uttar Pradesh state, said, as cited by AFP.



Rescue operations are under way," Indian Express cited Anil Saxena, a spokesman for Indian Railways, as saying.



However, the death toll is expected to rise as the rescue operation is under way. All the hospitals in the area are mobilized to receive the injured.


The incident happened some 100 kilometers from the city of Kanpur, the second-largest industrial city in India, at about 3:00 a.m. local time, when most of the passengers were asleep.


It has not been made clear what caused the derailment. Indian Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu ordered that an inquiry be "immediately" opened into the circumstances of the derailment.


"The strictest possible action will be taken against those who could be responsible for the accident," he wrote on Twitter, adding that "all possible mobilization relief" has been initiated.


Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the victims of the crash, adding that the Minister for Railways has been put in charge of overseeing the situation.


Along with ambulances, buses have been sent to the site of the crash to help those who were unharmed in the catastrophe and became stranded unable to continue the journey, said Vijay Kumar, spokesman for Northern Central Railways, Punjab Update reported.