Officials have given up hope of finding any more survivors from the wreckage of a train that plunged into a river in southern India killing at least 59 people, police said Saturday.
Emergency services officials said they had reached most of the bodies inside the three wagons of the Mangalore-Madras Mail and the recsue operation was winding down.
The train fell into the Kadalundi river in the state of Kerala after a 120-year-old bridge collapsed on Friday night.
Four bodies were still trapped Saturday, but police said they would not be able to reach them unless a crane was used to haul the wagons out of the river.
"We have given up hope of finding any more survivors and the four bodies which are in the compartments under the water are badly trapped. The rescuers cannot get to them," Kerala police deputy superintendent C.K. Thulsi Das said.
Railways Minister Nitish Kumar, who arrived at the scene Saturday, said the death toll had risen to 59, including the bodies which were still trapped under compartments.
He said another 241 people were injured, with 83 in a critical condition.
Many of those who survived the accident were rescued by local villagers who rushed to the scene and pulled passengers through the windows of the flooded wagons.
Fisherman Lallu Vepur, 35, who was one of the first to arrive at the site of the accident, said he found people tangled inside the carriages.
"When I got there I could see at least 15 bodies," Vepur said.
"Then, I started going deeper into the water and immediately rescued two men. But within half-an-hour, a strong tide swept in and it was very difficult to see inside the compartments.
"We all started searching frantically for the people. I saved twelve of them. Most of the people had either their hands or legs tangled inside the compartments. We had to sever the hands and legs in at least five cases.
"We found two children completely unhurt, but they did not know where there parents were."
Officials said torrential rain had contributed to the collapse of the bridge and hampered overnight rescue efforts.
Six wagons left the tracks in the accident, three of them falling off the bridge and into the swollen river below. Two were Saturday still dangling from the bridge.
Staff at a nearby hospital said most of the deaths and injuries were caused by the fall itself.
Kumar told reporters he had ordered the Commissioner of Railways to conduct an inquiry into the tragedy, although he was already prepared to speculate on the cause of the accident.
"The bridge was 120 years old," Kumar said.
"One possible reason for the accident might have been the sudden sinkage of one of the bridge's girders."
Ironically, a new bridge was being built alongside the one that collapsed and work was continuing Saturday to complete it, watched by thousands of locals who had come to see the accident site.
C.M. Khosla, a former member of the Traffic of Indian Railways board, said there were many bridges on the railway network that needed to be strengthened or rebuilt.
"Good bridges need to be built to withstand the fury of floods and rains," he said.
"One expert committee has estimated that at least 100 (2.17 billion dollars) to 150 billion rupees needs to be spent over the next five to six years to make the railway system safe.
"I think the railways have wasted 200 billion rupees (4.34 billion dollars) in the last ten years." -- KADALUNDI, India (AFP)
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