13 people die in train-vehicle collision in eastern India

More than a dozen people have lost their lives when a commuter train slammed into an SUV at a railroad crossing in India’s eastern region of Jharkhand.

Police on Monday said in a statement that the SUV was crossing the railroad track when it was hit by the passenger train in the Ramgarh district of Jharkhand.

There were six were children, four women and three men among the 13 victims, who were returning from a marriage gathering.

“The bodies will be taken for postmortem and then the investigation will proceed,” the Ramgarh District Magistrate A Dodde told reporters.

India has one of the largest railway networks in the world, with an estimated 23 million people using the service each day.

In India, unmanned railway crossings — 11,563 in total– account for 59 percent of deaths on railway tracks.

Transport accidents are common in India, where trains are often old and streets are heavily congested.