Five of the seven persons killed in Wednesday morning’s train derailment near Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh were residents of Bihar’s Munger and Kishanganj districts, three of them from one family.

The accident happened when the engine and six bogies of a New Delhi-bound train that is popular with labourers from Bihar employed in north India jumped the tracks after leaving Rae Bareli station in Uttar Pradesh.

The New Farakka Express, which originated in Malda town of north Bengal, had left Rae Bareli around 5.50am, more than two hours behind schedule, and was 100 metres from Harchandpur station when the engine and the bogies derailed. The train was not supposed to stop at the station.

Those killed have been identified as Saugandh Kumar (8), Dinesh Kumar (5), Sunita Devi (40) and one-year-old Rita Kumari, residents of Laxmipur and Kisanpur Manjhi Tola villages under Haveli Kharagpur sub-division in Munger district. The fifth deceased, Ajay Puri (45), is stated to be a resident of Tedhagachhi in Kishanganj district.

Rasik Lal Manjhi and his daughter in-law, both residents of Laxmipur village in Munger district, suffered injuries in the accident, which occurred around 6.10am.

Rangal Manjhi, father of Rasik Lal, said the family was on way to Moradabad in search of work. “Hundreds of workers go to Moradabad to work on brick kilns there during this season,” said Rangal in his choked voice.

The family had boarded the train at Jamalpur in Munger on Tuesday. Around 7am on Wednesday, the family received the shocking news from private news channels. “We came to know about the death of two members of our family —Saurabh and Dinesh — and injuries to two others in the accident,” Rangal told The Telegraph over phone.

Some relatives left for Rae Bareli soon after they got the news of the mishap. Similarly, Sangeeta Devi, a close relative of two other deceased — Sunita Devi and her one-year-old daughter Rita Kumari — said the family had left their native village Kisanpur Manjhi Tola around 9am on Tuesday to catch a train for Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh.

Residents were shocked over the death of four persons belonging to the Mahadalit community. Locals said that altogether 37 persons from Kisanpur Manjhi Tola and its neighbouring villages had boarded the train for Moradabad. While 10 persons were travelling in air-conditioned coaches, the remaining 27 were travelling on sleeper berths.Chief minister Nitish Kumar expressed grief over the loss of lives in the train accident. In a statement, Nitish said that according to information received so far, among those killed were four residents of Munger district and another from Kishanganj. He announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of each of the deceased from Bihar and Rs 50,000 to each injured person from the state.

The chief minister also urged Indian Railways and the district administration of Rae Bareli in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh to expeditiously carry out relief and rescue work.

Additional director-general (rail) Alok Raj said a four-member police team has left for Rae Bareli to cooperate with the family members of those killed and those injured in the derailment. The cell phone numbers of the officers have also been flashed so that the relatives of the victims could contact them, Raj said.

Kishanganj district magistrate Mahendra Kumar said: “We have not received any official communication so far. We are trying to contact the officials of the railways to ascertain the identity of the deceased who belonged to the district.”