11 dead in train-truck collision in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow : At least 11 people were killed and over 20 injured Sunday when a train smashed into a truck at an unmanned railway crossing in Uttar Pradesh's Gonda district, police said.

The accident took place around 1.30 p.m. at Kalyanpur railway crossing in Gonda, 150 km from here.

"The Gorakhpur-Ayodhya passenger train hit a truck carrying sand at the crossing. Due to the impact, the truck rotated almost 180 degrees and hit the engine and the bogey just behind it," Inspector Ram Iqbal of Nawabganj police station told IANS over phone.

The dead include the driver and the cleaner of the truck besides nine train passengers.

"Due to the impact of the truck on the engine and the bogey, over two dozen people have received critical injuries," Iqbal said.

"Rescue operations are on and the injured have been sent to hospital," Superintendent of Police (Gonda) N. Padmaja told IANS.