Kolkata (PTI): At least nine passengers, including three women, were killed when a speeding mini bus, attempting to overtake another, fell from a flyover on the Howrah railway station tracks between two platforms on Saturday.

The bus which was coming to Howrah from Sankrail near Nazirganj was racing against another when the driver lost control of the vehicle, smashed into the railing of the flyover and fell 40 feet below on the railway tracks between platform numbers 11 and 12, Howrah District Magistrate Sanghamitra Ghosh said.

The roof of the bus, which landed on the tracks, was completely torn off with the wreckage strewn around on the railway tracks.

Shoes, sneakers and water bottles of passengers lay scattered in the area as gas cutters were used to clear the wreckage.

CPRO, Eastern Railway, Samir Goswami said 15 of the injured were taken to the Howrah General Hospital where eight died.

Five others were taken to the Howrah Orthopaedic Hospital where one succumbed, he said.

Of the dead, six were men and three women, Goswami said.

Howrah Superintendent of Police Neeraj Kumar Singh, however, put the figure of death at 'between seven and eight'.

As a precautionary measure, the railway authorities switched off high tension power supply from platforms 10 to 23.

Train services at the station were disrupted following the accident, railway sources said.

Local train services from platforms number one to five were unaffected by the accident.