At least 288 people have died in a horrific train accident in the Indian state of Odisha, and about 850 others have been taken to hospitals..

Rescuers expect the death toll to rise as the rescue operation to remove two passenger and one freight trains damaged by the collision continues.

According to the first government report, writes The New York Times, around 19:00 local time on June 2, a Coromandel Express high-speed passenger train en route from Calcutta collided with a freight train that was idling at the station of the small town of Bahanaga..

“The passenger train was going through the station at full speed because it was not supposed to stop,” the report says..

Passenger train carrying 1,257 passengers derailed after collision with freight train. Twenty-one of his carriages derailed, three of them spilled onto other rails..

At the same time, a passenger train from Bengaluru to Calcutta Yesvantpur-Howrah Express with 1039 passengers was heading in the opposite direction - on the track, which was thrown over by three cars of a derailed train. The second collision caused two carriages of the third train to derail..

Rajesh Kumar, senior deputy commercial director of the South Eastern Railway, said that Coromandel Express changed the way - this is what led to the tragedy.. The reasons for this change are under investigation.. Preliminary report shows crash was caused by signal failure, officials say.

More than 200 ambulances and 100 additional doctors worked at the scene of the tragedy, in addition to 80 who arrived there immediately after the disaster..

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the scene, spoke with rescuers and inspected the wreckage. He also visited survivors in hospitals.

“I assessed the situation at the site of the tragedy in Odisha. Words cannot express my deep sorrow. We are committed to providing all possible assistance to those affected,” Modi said..

The families of the dead will receive one million rupees ($12,000), compensation for seriously injured passengers will be 200,000 rupees, people who escaped with minor injuries will receive 50,000 rupees.. Some state governments have also announced compensation payments..

India's deadliest rail accident occurred in 1981 when a train plunged off a bridge into a river in the state of Bihar, killing about 800 people..

Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, Indian Railways, the world's largest single-management train network, has several hundred accidents each year..