At least 50 people were feared killed and an equal number were injured when a passenger train jumped the rails and fell off a bridge into a rivulet early Saturday in Andhra Pradesh.

Junior railways minister R. Velu, who visited the accident site in Nalgonda district, about 80 km east of here, along with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said 17 bodies had so far been recovered and 100 injured shifted to various hospitals.

He said all those who were alive had been rescued and four or five more bodies could still be inside the compartments.

"Efforts are on to cut those bogies and retrieve bodies," he said.

However, rescue workers fear that the toll could cross 50 as many bodies were believed to be still inside the mangled remains of compartments. Indian Army rescue teams were trying to cut the compartments with gas cutters to retrieve bodies.

The engine and seven compartments of Repalle-Secunderabad passenger train jumped the tracks over Golapalli bridge around 4.20 a.m. near Veligonda railway station.

Teams from the army, the air force, the railways and the local administration, assisted by villagers, rescued more than 100 people from the derailed compartments. They along with the passengers in 10 other compartments that remained on the tracks were sent to various destinations through special trains and buses.

Railway officials said water from a nearby lake had submerged the tracks and might have washed away a part of it, resulting in the ghastly accident.

The train, which left Repalle in Guntur district last night, was scheduled to reach Secunderabad at 5.30 a.m. Most of the passengers were asleep when the mishap took place and officials said this could be the reason for large number of casualties.

Several districts of the state including Nalgonda were receiving heavy rains since Friday under the impact of cyclonic storm in Bay of Bengal. Lakes had breached inundating roads and railway tracks. The irrigation officials failed to inform railway authorities about the breach at the tank near Veligonda, which flooded the rivulet and submerged the tracks.

The driver Samuel, who was also killed in the mishap, could not see the submerged tracks, officials said.

The engine and seven compartments fell over each other. The engine and five compartments fell off 20 feet high bridge. Such was the impact of the derailment that that three bogies reduced to mangled steel and protruded into each other.

Heart-rending scenes were witnessed at the accident site as some of the injured dragged themselves out and perched on top of the compartments. Some of them were crying and waiting for rescue workers to reach them. A woman, with her child in her arms, was sitting on a compartment and waiting for the help. Few passengers were seen clutching to the long ropes and ladders thrown by rescue teams and trying to cross rivulet.

Two Indian Air Force helicopters were pressed into service to airlift the injured.

Chief Minister Reddy said four tanks had breached upstream flooding the rivulet and submerging the tracks.