Two Britons killed after train derails in northern India

Shimla

Two British women were killed and nine other passengers injured on Saturday when a train carrying tourists to the hill town of Shimla in northern India derailed, police said.

"Two British nationals have been killed," S.Z.H Zaidi, a senior police official for Himachal Pradesh state, said.

"Nine people are injured including six Britons," he said, adding that the other three injured were Indian nationals.

The two passengers who died were both women aged in their sixties, Zaidi said.

The train, a special chartered service carrying a group of 37 British holidaymakers and a few Indian crew members, derailed at around 1:00 pm local time (0730 GMT).

Photographs showed several carriages belonging to the red and yellow narrow-gauge train tilting at a sharp angle by the side of the rails as uniformed officials inspected the site. 

The cause of the derailment was not immediately clear, but the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency said three carriages might have left the track because the train was travelling too fast.

An Indian historian, who was aboard the train working as a tourist guide, described how he narrowly managed to escape unharmed when the carriages began to topple.

"Just 30 seconds after I finished my lecture to the tourists, the accident took place," Raaja Bhasin said, adding he felt that "speeding was the cause of the accident".

British foreign office minister Hugo Swire said he was "deeply saddened" at the news of the deaths.

"My thoughts are with their family and friends at this difficult time," he said in a statement.

Railway authorities have ordered an investigation into the incident.