At least 288 people have been killed and more than 900 injured in a crash involving three trains in eastern India’s Odisha state, the country’s deadliest rail accident in more than 20 years.

Emergency crews were on Friday night scrambling to rescue a further 200 passengers thought to be trapped inside the wreckage, sparking fears the death toll will continue to grow.

The Coromandel Express passenger train, a Bengaluru-Howrah superfast express train and a freight train were involved in the accident near Balasore, about 137 miles southwest of Kolkata at around 7.20pm (2.50pm BST).

Local media reports showed images of a train car toppled to one side of the track with what appeared to be survivors on top of it, and local residents trying to pull other victims to safety.

Sudhanshu Sarangi, director general of Odisha Fire Services, earlier told AFP: “We have more than 120 deaths per the last count and the number is increasing as there are a lot of serious injuries, head injuries.

“A very sad incident and the prognosis is not good.”