Three trains were involved in this rail disaster which left at least 288 people dead and more than 850 injured.

At least 288 people were killed and more than 850 injured Friday in a rail disaster involving several trains in eastern India, a senior local official said. Earlier reports had put the death toll at 207.

Emergency services worked Saturday to free scores of passengers trapped beneath the metal wreckage of the carriage. Rescuers worked tirelessly to pull survivors from the wreckage.

“Rescue operations are ongoing at the site, and will not be completed for several hours,” said Odisha state fire department director general Sudhanshu Sarangi.

Senior local government representative Pradeep Jena told AFP that around 850 people had been hospitalized.

A steady procession of ambulances ferried the injured to Bhadrak district hospital overnight from Friday to Saturday, where bloodied and shocked survivors were treated in crowded quarters.

Two passenger trains were “actively involved in the accident,” Indian Railways director Amitabh Sharma said. A third train, a goods convoy, was parked at the scene of the tragedy, he said.

“The number of casualties on the ground or injured is very difficult to estimate at this time,” he said, as many passengers were likely still trapped in the rubble.

One survivor told reporters he was asleep when the crash happened, and woke up to find himself under a dozen other passengers, before crawling out of his compartment with wounds to his neck and arms.

“We have prepared all major state and private hospitals, from the accident site to the national capital, to treat the injured,” said SK Panda, a spokesman for the local government. He added that 75 ambulances and “many buses” were sent to the scene to transport injured passengers and survivors.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for his part, said he was “distressed”. “My thoughts are with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon,” he tweeted, adding that he had spoken to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to “take stock of the situation”.

Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that she would be heading to the crash site soon, and the army has been deployed to help. “We will request all necessary weapons for the rescue operation,” she said on Twitter.

Rescue operations “until at least Saturday morning”

India has had several rail disasters in the past, but safety on trains has improved significantly in recent years thanks to massive investment and technological improvements.

The country's deadliest rail accident occurred on June 6, 1981 when, in the eastern state of Bihar, seven coaches of a train crossing a bridge fell into the river, the Bagmati, killing between 800 and 1,000 people.

Another recent fatal accident: On November 20, 2016, the Patna-Indore express train, carrying 2,000 people, derailed in the early hours of the morning in a rural area of ​​the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, at a time when most of the passengers were sleeping. The disaster left 146 people dead and about 180 injured.

Since the turn of the century, 13 train accidents, at least three of them caused by strikes, have each killed more than 50 people.