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At least 22 dead as trains collide in India

  • Story Highlights
  • NEW: Railway officials say 22 people killed, 26 injured after trains collided
  • Goa Express, apparently on the same track, hit Mewar about 5:30 a.m.
  • Railway spokesman: Trains collided apparently because driver overshot stop signal
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NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- A train collision in northern India killed at least 22 people early Wednesday.

Indian Railway Protection Force personnel look at a damaged carriage after the collision Wednesday.

Indian Railway Protection Force personnel look at a damaged carriage after the collision Wednesday.

Railway officials confirmed the deaths and also said people were 26 injured in the crash.

The Goa Express slammed into the stationary Mewar Express apparently because the driver overshot a signal to stop, said Anant Swaroop, spokesman for India's northern railway.

Indian Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered an inquiry into the crash, according to CNN's sister station in India, CNN-IBN.

The Goa Express, bound for New Delhi from the western coastal state of Goa, was running on the same track as the Mewar, which shuttles between New Delhi and Udaipur, in western Rajasthan state. Both trains have stops in Mathura, about 90 miles south of New Delhi.

Rescuers had to cut trapped passengers from a wrecked car of the Mewar Express. The car had a special compartment for women, disabled passengers, cargo and train guards, said Aditya Verma, a senior police official in Mathura.

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Bannerjee said victims' relatives would receive compensation of about $10,000, according to CNN-IBN.

Several other trains that go through the Mathura station had to be diverted. Trains are the most widely used mode of transportation for national travel in India.

CNN's Harmeet Shah Singh in New Delhi contributed to this report.

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