The death toll has risen to 233 people after a three-train collision on Friday evening in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Jena tweeted Saturday.
Hundreds of others were injured when a passenger train derailed and collided with another passenger service that then hit a goods train in Odisha's Balasore district.
Nearly 500 police officers and rescue workers with 75 ambulances and buses responded to the accident, according to the chief secretary.
The Indian state has declared June 3 a day of mourning in light of the deadly accident.
Rescuers were attempting to free 200 people feared trapped in the derailed carriages.
Images from the scene showed rescuers climbing up the mangled wreck of one of the trains to find survivors. Videos shared on social media showed the arrival of several ambulances and people being pulled out of the upturned train coaches.
"I was there at the site and I can see blood, broken limbs and people dying around me," an eyewitness told Reuters by phone.
Hundreds of young people lined up outside a government hospital in Odisha's Soro to donate blood.
The collision occurred at about 7 p.m. local time when the Howrah Superfast Express, running from Bangalore to Howrah, West Bengal, derailed and became entangled with the Coromandel Express, which runs from Kolkata to Chennai, railway officials said. All hospitals in the Balasore district have been put on high alert.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said authorities' priority was "removing the living to the hospitals."
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "distressed" by the accident and said "all possible assistance" was being given to those affected.
More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, travelling on about 64,374 kilometers of track.
Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India's railways. Most train accidents are blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.
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