At least nine people were killed and more than 150 injured in northern India when nearly a dozen coaches of a passenger train got derailed, officials said on Sunday.

The accident occurred in Uttar Pradesh state when the driver of the train applied emergency brakes, said A.K. Jain, additional director general of the railway police.

He said he feared the death toll would go up.

State-run monopoly Indian Railways carries around 30 million people every day, but has a patchy safety record because of ageing infrastructure.

Reuters