The mishap occurred at 10.25 a.m., a few yards away from the station, when the engine plunged down the road-under-bridge (RUB) hitting the auto-rickshaw and some passersby even as four bogies derailed.

“It seems the driver had ignored the signal and overshot the train resulting in the derailment,” Mr Nitish Kumar told reporters in Patna, minutes after the news about the mishap reached him.

As the driver lost control after the train sped past the station where it was to halt, the engine fell from the bridge and hit the traffic below, railway sources here said.

Amid fears of casualties going up with several passengers still trapped inside the derailed bogies, gas cutters had been pressed into service to break open the windows, the sources said.

Among the injured, admitted to a government hospital here, the condition of seven persons was serious, the police said.

PATNA: Railway Minister Nitish Kumar announced a statutory inquiry by the Commissioner (Safety), South Central Railway, into today’s Golconda Express mishap.

He announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh and ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh each to next of kin of those killed.