Police guarded three partially submerged cars of a train that ran off a bridge, falling more than 100 feet into a shallow river in southern India on Friday afternoon. As many as 57 people were killed and 288 injured when a derailment caused the last three cars of the Madras-bound train to fall.

Villagers in boats helped firefighters and police pull passengers from the cars. Crowds stood along the riverbanks to watch the rescue efforts, carried out by flashlight during heavy rain. The Indian Express newspaper quoted railroad officials as saying that one of the piers of the 260-yard-long bridge broke, causing a coupling to fracture.

(Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 24 2001)