At least 73 bodies have been pulled out of the mangled wreckage where two trains crashed in eastern India early Friday in an incident authorities linked to Maoist rebels.

By Friday night, hours after the massive collision, prospects were getting dim for anybody else left in the wreckage of crushed train cars, rescuers said.

Also about 115 passengers were injured when 13 cars of the Lokmanya Tilak Gyaneshwari Express derailed, capsized on a parallel track and were slammed by a cargo train, authorities said.

Indian officials gave different theories about the derailment.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said a bomb explosion caused the passenger train to jump rails.

"The blast was carefully timed," Banerjee said on television. "The tracks were sabotaged 15 minutes before the train passed over them."

However, India's Home Ministry said there was no immediate evidence suggesting a blast.

"It appears to be a case of sabotage where a portion of the railway track was removed. Whether explosives were used is not yet clear," Home Minister P. Chidambaram said in a statement.

Police say they have not found signs of explosives on the scene. Manoj Verma, the district police superintendent, said investigators were looking into the possibility that "fishplates" which secure rail joints were missing from the track. An investigation was under way to determine the cause of derailment.

But the role of Maoists "cannot be ruled out", Verma said.

West Bengal's police chief Bhupinder Singh told reporters that officers have found Maoist posters claiming responsibility for the attack.

Latest Interviews

Raspy Rawls Interview Pt. 2

Raspy Rawls Interview Pt. 1

Latest VLogs

iLoveMakonnen "Loudest of the Loud Tour - On the Road Pt. 2"

Life With Ty Dolla $ign (Ep. 7)

Lil Durk's "Wherever I Go" Tour (Pt. 1)