A fire on a crowded passenger train in northern India has killed at least 38 people.
Indian authorities said the fire was an accident, and may have been sparked by a cigarette.
The death toll is expected to rise with a number of passengers still missing. It reportedly tooks rescuers three hours to extinguish the flames.
"I saw my wife and two children burning to death. The smoke was so intense I could do nothing to save them," said a soldier, weeping inconsolably.
The pre-dawn blaze on the Frontier Mail, travelling from Bombay to the northern city of Amritsar, broke out just after the train left Ludhiana in the state of Punjab.
Authorities ruled out sabotage as the cause. "It is suspected to be either sparks from a short circuit or a lit cigarette that started the fire," a railway ministry spokesman said. "People smoke on trains in violation of the law," he said.
At least 10 of the victims are children and many bodies were burned beyond recognition. Twelve people were injured and being treated for smoke inhalation.
Witnesses said the train, on a 37-hour journey, was very crowded. "People were trapped inside the train. They couldn't move out because the exits were blocked by the luggage," said the army brigadier who led rescue efforts.
The fire gutted three coaches, a witness said. Some people hiding in toilets to escape the blaze were killed by smoke inhalation.
It was India's worst train fire since 59 people died when a suspected Muslim mob torched a train carrying Hindu pilgrims in the western state of Gujarat last year, triggering bloody Hindu-Muslim riots.
India has one of the world's largest railway networks with almost 14,000 trains carrying more than 13 million passengers a day, and has about 300 accidents a year.