NEW DELHI, July 19 (Xinhua) -- At least 21 people have been injured in a train accident in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal's capital Kolkata Wednesday, railway officials said.
The accident happened when a local train broke the buffer and hit the guard wall of a platform at Sealdah terminal station in Kolkata. The train had just arrived from Sonarpur, the southern suburb of Kolkata.
"A train is supposed to stop four to five meters before the buffer, but despite being at a very slow speed, it overshot and hit the buffer of a platform," Divisional Railway Manager Basudev Panda told the media.
Out of 21 injured, 16 were admitted to nearby B.R. Singh Railway Hospital, while five others have been rushed to N.R.S. Medical College and Hospital, another senior railway official said. "However, no one sustained any serious injuries," he added.
Local TV channels reported that the impact of the collision with the buffer was such that few coaches of the local train derailed and brushed aside another stationary train at the very next platform.
In a media statement, Eastern Railways said that a probe has been ordered into the incident and the driver and the train's guard have been suspended, pending inquiry. Some local trains were cancelled due to the accident, it added.
