At least 8 dead after trains collided in eastern India in Darjeeling district, a tourist hotspot WPXI [Video]

NEW DELHI — (AP) — A cargo train rammed into a passenger train in India’s eastern state of West Bengal on Monday, killing at least eight people and injuring several others, officials said.

Doctors, disaster-response teams and ambulances were at the site in the Darjeeling district, a tourist spot nestled in the Himalayan foothills, the state’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in a post on social media platform X.

Three of the eight dead were railway personnel, said Sabyasachi De, the spokesperson of the Northeast Frontier Railway. Nearly 50 people were hospitalized.

Television channels showed footage of one train rammed into the end of the other, with one compartment rising vertically in the air. Many people gathered as rescuers searched through the debris.

The driver of the cargo train, who was among the dead, disregarded a signal and caused the collision, De said. Four compartments at the rear of the …