MUMBAI - Survivors of an Indian double train crash that killed nine people described on Tuesday their terror when a driver missed a signal and rammed a goods train into a passenger express.
The force of the crash on Monday was so strong that one carriage was initially thrust high into the air, precariously balanced on another.
Heavy goods carriages were flung off the tracks, lying high in tumbled piles.
"I did not feel like I was going to survive," said one passenger, Arti Roy, who lost her belongings when the carriages crumpled, twisted and then flipped off the rails.
The incident in West Bengal state is the latest to hit India's creaking rail network, which carries millions of passengers each day -- and the most recent reported failure of drivers missing basic signals.
Jaya Varma Sinha, chairman of India's Railway Board, said that the driver of the goods train had "disregarded the signal" and hit the back of the passenger train.
The driver and his co-driver both died in the crash.
Sinha said the casualties could have been worse, but a guard wagon and two others carrying post at the back of the passenger train took the brunt of the crash.
Officials said Tuesday that the number of dead had risen to nine after one of the around 50 injured died in hospital.
"The death toll from the accident has risen to nine, with the death of an injured passenger," Eastern Railway official Kausik Mitra told AFP.
"Around 40 injured people are still admitted to the hospital, but their condition is stable."
But the express train -- minus its final five carriages which were derailed or damaged -- was able to limp on and continue its journey.
It reached Kolkata with about 500 passengers on Monday night.
"It was a horrific experience," said Antara Das told AFP. "God has saved us."