At least seven people were killed when an express passenger train and a goods train collided Monday in India's West Bengal state, derailing three passenger carriages, police said, AFP reports.

Images on Indian broadcasters showed the tangled wreckage of carriages flipped on their side, and one thrust high into the air precariously balanced on another.

"We have confirmation of seven deaths and 39 passengers admitted at a local hospital with various injuries," local police officer Iftikar-Ul-Hassan told the news agency.

The incident is the latest to hit India's creaking rail network, which carries millions of passengers each day.

"We just saw the bodies of a dead driver and a guard... their bodies were taken out," Rajesh Kumar Singh, from the Railway Protection Force, told AFP.

"Some more bodies may be under the crash site, but we don't yet know for sure."

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to "those who lost their loved ones", in a post on social media, adding that "rescue operations are underway".

bd-pratidin/GR