NEW DELHI: An Indian passenger train derailed on Thursday and medics were despatched to the site, a local medical officer said, with footage of the accident showing several overturned carriages.

The Chandigarh-Dibrugarh Express derailed in Gonda district, near the Hindu holy city of Ayodhya, at 2.30pm, Indian media reported.

At least four carriages had overturned, broadcaster NDTV reported.

Footage aired by the network showed passengers standing on top of a derailed compartment that had crashed onto its side.

"The train accident in Gonda district is extremely sad," Uttar Pradesh state chief minister Yogi Adityanath posted on social media platform X.

"District administration officials have been directed to carry out relief and rescue operations on a war footing and to take the injured to the hospital," he added.

"I pray to Lord Ram for the speedy recovery of the injured."

Anil Kumar Tiwari, chief medical superintendent of Gonda District Hospital, told AFP that a team of medics had been rushed to the accident site.

India's railway network remains the main form of travel in the vast country, but it is poorly funded and deadly accidents often occur.

Last year, nearly 300 people were killed when a passenger train and a stationary goods train collided, with the derailed compartments then striking another fast-moving passenger service.

India's worst-ever rail accident occurred in 1981, when a cyclone blew a train off its tracks and into a river in the state of Bihar, leaving 800 dead and more than 100 injured.

 - AFP