NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday offered his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the train accident in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri, calling it a "very tragic incident."

"The train accident in New Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, is very tragic. I express my heartfelt condolences to those who have lost their loved ones in this unfortunate incident and wish for the speedy recovery of the injured," Shah posted on 'X'.

At least eight people have died and about 25 to 30 are injured as a goods train collided with the Sealdah-bound Kanchanjungha Express on Monday morning near New Jalpaiguri, a senior North Frontier Railway (NFR) official said. The accident took place around 9 am.

Meanwhile, rescue efforts to extricate trapped passengers are ongoing. Teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and police are present at the Kanchenjunga Express train accident site in Ruidhasa in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is leaving for Darjeeling to visit the Kanchenjunga Express train accident site.

In a post on 'X', Vaishnaw earlier termed it an "unfortunate accident in the NFR zone," and said, "Rescue operations are ongoing at a war footing. Railways, NDRF, and SDRF are working in close coordination. The injured are being shifted to the hospital. Senior officials have reached the site."

A wagon of the Kanchenjunga Express train was suspended in the air after a goods train rammed into it at Ruidhasa near Rangapani station under the Siliguri subdivision in the Darjeeling district.

Sealdah Eastern Railway has set up a control desk at Rangapani station after the Kanchenjunga Express train was rammed by a goods train at Ruidhasa in Darjeeling.