LUCKNOW (India) - A BROKEN branch of a tree swept more than 150 people off the roof of a moving train in a northern Indian state, killing at least three people and seriously injuring about 60, police said on Tuesday.
The victims, most of them young men headed for an army recruitment centre in Uttar Pradesh state, climbed to the roof of the train on Monday night, but their journey turned tragic after a broken branch of a tree knocked them off in the dark.
Police said some of the men had chosen the roof because they could not enter the packed coaches, while others did not have a ticket.
The crush to board some trains in India is so bad that people climb on the roof or travel on the vestibule, acts which are considered a crime. Many also do this to avoid buying a ticket.
According to official figures, an average 4,000 people die a year on the suburban rail network of Mumbai - a bustling metropolis of nearly 18 million people - crushed under trains, electrocuted by overhead power lines or killed as they lean from jam-packed carriages to gasp for air. -- REUTERS
