Asia-Pacific

14 killed while traveling on train roof in India

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-02-02 13:33

LUCKNOW, India - Fourteen young job seekers traveling home on the rooftop of an overcrowded train were killed when they hit a low overhead road bridge in northern India, police said Wednesday.

They had been among thousands of hopefuls that had turned up for just 461 jobs being offered by an Indian paramilitary force.

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The unexpected turnout of nearly 200,000 aspirants forced the Indo-Tibetan Border Force to postpone the recruitment on Tuesday in Bareilly, a town nearly 115 miles (180 kilometers) southwest of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state.

Infuriated by the decision, the job seekers burned five buses and one gas station during street protests in the town, said Brij Lal, a senior police officer.

They later crammed into trains and those who could not get into the coaches clambered on to the rooftops on their way home, Lal told The Associated Press.

Fourteen of them lost their lives when they hit the low overhead bridge and fell on the ground. Another 13 people injured in the accident were hospitalized, he said.

Accidents are common on India's sprawling rail network, one of the world's largest but lacking in modern signaling and communication systems. Most crashes are blamed on poor maintenance and human error.