(Calcutta) A ninth person died following the collision of a freight train with a passenger train in eastern India on Monday, the Eastern Railway said on Tuesday.

“The death toll rose to nine after the death of an injured passenger,” spokesperson Kausik Mitra told AFP. “Around forty people are still hospitalized, but their condition is stable,” added this source.

Survivors interviewed by AFP said they were still in shock the day after the disaster in the state of West Bengal.

“I thought I wouldn’t survive,” said a passenger, Arti Roy, who lost her luggage in the tragedy.

The accident occurred in Phansidewa, between Bangladesh and Nepal, where a goods convoy collided with a passenger train from behind, lifting a wagon about fifteen meters above the ground and making it derail several others.

“It was a horrible experience,” Antara Das, 35, who was on the train bound for the regional capital, Kolkata, told AFP. “God saved us.”

According to Indian Railways Board Chairman Jaya Varma Sinha, the drivers of the goods train had “ignored” a light signal and died in the accident.

The passenger train was carrying more than 500 people and the death toll from the accident could have been much higher, the official said, noting that the three tail cars, which bore the brunt of the impact, were not carrying passengers.

The intact part of the train was able to reach Calcutta with its passengers during the night.

Train accidents are common in India, the most populous country in the world with a sprawling railway network.

In June last year, nearly 300 people died when three trains collided in the eastern state of Odisha following a switching error.

In October, at least 14 people died in Andhra Pradesh after a train conductor ignored a light signal. According to the Railway Ministry, he was watching a cricket match on his phone.

The authorities have increased investments to improve network security, notably through electronic signaling systems.

But these efforts are not enough to reassure Jahangir Alam, 35, a local resident who rushed to the accident site on Monday to help.

“Every time we think about taking the train, we are consumed by fear,” he told AFP.