AT least 50 people died and 180 were injured when an express train crashed off the rails between Calcutta and New Delhi in India.

　　One car plunged into a river while two others were left dangling from a bridge, officials said yesterday. Authorities said they suspected sabotage, as the tracks appeared to have been tampered with. The crash occurred in an area of eastern India where rebels are active.

　　“We have recovered 50 dead bodies. The rescue operation is almost complete,” Northern Railways spokesman Devendra Sandhu told reporters. Railroad officials earlier feared at least 100 people were dead.

　　Thirteen cars of the luxury Rajdhani Express went off the rails as the train was crossing a bridge near the town of Rafiganj, 675 km southeast of New Delhi.

　　One car plunged some 90 meters into the Dhave River, and two others were left dangling from the bridge. Others were scattered alongside the track.

　　There were about 528 passengers on board along with 50 to 60 railroad employees. Nearly 100 of the injured passengers, some in critical conditions, were being treated at nearby hospitals, Sandhu said. Railroad authorities have yet to identify the dead. The train was derailed before midnight Monday (1:10 a.m. Beijing Time yesterday). It was running at about 130 kmh as it approached the British-built bridge over the Dhave River. “Our preliminary reports say that this is sabotage,’’ said Bandaru Dattatreya, junior railroad minister. He said some iron plates that join the train tracks, called fish plates, were found to have been removed at the crash scene. Cranes and earth-moving machinery were called in to lift the cars and clear the track, railroad officials said. Authorities suspect that the tracks may have been tampered with by the People’s War Group, which is fighting to establish a separate state. (SD-Agencies)