Twelve persons were on Saturday killed and ten injured when a train ran over them at a rail crossing in the district, a senior railway police official said.
The victims were crossing the tracks when the mishap took place at a spot near Tarbahar area of the town on the Mumbai-Howrah rail route, IG (Railway) R. K. Devangan said.
The gates of the crossing were closed as two trains were approaching the spot on parallel tracks, he added. A group of over 20 people stepped onto the track to avoid one goods train that was coming on an adjacent track but were run over by the other train, he said.
The IG said rescue teams from Raipur and Bilaspur have been dispatched to the spot. Following the incident, a mob ransacked the office of the district collector and set ablaze government vehicles at the accident spot.
Police had to use force to disperse the mob. The Chhattisgarh government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs50,000 each to the next of the kin of those killed in the incident.