Over 900 people have been injured following the three-train pile-up in southeast India (Picture: EPA)

At least 288 people have been killed and over 900 injured after two passenger trains derailed in India, trapping hundreds of others inside more than a dozen damaged rail cars.

The accident occurred around 137 miles south-west of Kolkata, in Odisha’s Balasore district, at around 7pm local time on Friday.

Officials described chaotic scenes of twisted wreckage as desperate rescuers attempted to free trapped passengers and recover bodies.

The crash is India’s deadliest rail accident in more than two decades. The cause is still unknown.

Over 200 ambulances and 1500 rescuers have been dispatched to search for survivors (Picture: Getty)

Ten to 12 coaches of one train derailed, and debris from some of the mangled coaches fell onto a nearby track, said Amitabh Sharma, a railroad ministry spokesperson.

The debris was hit by another passenger train coming from the opposite direction, and up to three coaches of the second train also derailed, Mr Sharma said.

A third train carrying freight was also reportedly involved, but authorities have not yet confirmed it.

The death toll has continued to rise steadily throughout the night. Scores of dead bodies, covered by white sheets, lay on the ground near the train tracks as locals and rescuers raced to help survivors.

Scores of people also showed up at a local hospital to donate blood.

Odisha chief secretary Pradeep Jena tweeted that more than 200 ambulances were sent to the scene throughout the night, along with 50 buses and 45 mobile health units.

Villagers said they rushed to the site to evacuate people after hearing a loud sound created by the train coaches going off the tracks.

It is India’s worst rail disaster in over two decades (Picture: Getty)

‘The local people really went out on a limb to help us. They not only helped in pulling out people, but retrieved our luggage and got us water,’ said Rupam Banerjee, a survivor.

Passenger Vandana Kaleda told the New Delhi Television news channel that she ‘found people falling on each other’ as her coach shook violently and veered off the tracks. She said she was lucky to survive.

Another survivor who did not give his name said he was sleeping when the impact woke him up. He said he saw other passengers with broken limbs and disfigured faces.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his thoughts were with the bereaved families.

Locals rushed to the accident site in order to assist rescue efforts (Picture: AP)

‘May the injured recover soon,’ tweeted Mr Modi, who said he had spoken to the railway minister and that “all possible assistance” was being offered.

Despite government efforts to improve rail safety, several hundred accidents occur every year on India’s railways, the largest train network under one management in the world.

In August 1995, two trains collided near New Delhi, killing 358 people in the worst train accident in India’s history.

In 2016, a passenger train slid off the tracks between the cities of Indore and Patna, killing 146 people.

Most train accidents are blamed on human error or outdated signalling equipment.

More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, travelling on 40,000 miles of track.

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The three-train crash is the country’s deadliest rail accident in over two decades.