DHAKA: Rescue workers have given up on finding survivors in the wreckage of the Indore-Patna Express, which went off the tracks near Kanpur before daybreak on Sunday, killing 143 passengers in their sleep.

After an overnight effort by personnel of the army, police and the National Disaster Management Force it was clear on Monday afternoon that it would take a miracle to find anyone alive in the crushed coaches of the Indore-Patna Express.

Fourteen coaches were thrown off track at Pukhrayan, a town around 60 km from Kanpur, when the train was midway in its 27-hour journey between Indore and Patna, reports NDTV.

Passengers were jolted out of their sleep by a loud bang, following by violent rattling as the coaches leapt from the tracks and smashed up against each other.

One of the coaches was flattened and trapped under another coach.

Despite grim warnings of more bodies trapped inside, relatives like Ramanand Tiwari haven't lost hope.

“I am looking for my brother”, said Ramanand Tiwari. His brother Rajmani was in one of the front coaches that suffered the maximum damage, but Mr Tiwari said, “Who knows? He may have changed his seat...We have searched everywhere..."

This is the worst accident in recent times for the Indian railways, the world's fourth largest train network.

In 2010, a passenger train crashed into a freight train in Bengal, killing 146.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was “anguished beyond words”.

While the cause of the accident is being investigated, officials say a fault in the tracks could have caused the accident.

BDST: 1541 HRS, NOV 21, 2016
AP/BD