Residents of Harsa-Mansar village were the first to reach the site of a head-on collision between two passenger trains in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district on Tuesday.

The mishap left at least 34 dead and over 50 injured.

The collision occurred between the Jammu Tawi Ahmedabad express and Jalandhar-Pathankot Diesel Multiple Unit passenger train at Mansar, around 40 km from Jalandhar, at noon.

Also see: 34 dead in Punjab train mishap  | Graphic

The villagers rushed from their farms and homes grabbing whatever material they thought could help them in rescue work -- ropes, axes, iron rods. Within minutes of the collision, they were at work pulling out bodies and rushing the injured to the nearest hospital in their tractors.

Tarsem Singh, who was working in his fields close to the single-line track and who was among the first batch of villagers to arrive at the site, said: "It took us a few hours to pull the badly injured driver of the Jammu Tawi Express from the wreckage."

Neeta Mahindroo, a shaken passenger of S-6 coach of Jammu-Tawi Express, could only recall panicky passengers jumping out of the train. "I felt a violent jerk and next moment I saw everybody jumping out...as we came out, we saw the train engine on fire and twisted iron all around," she said.

A column of the Indian Army was called from Mirthala to assist in relief and rescue operations.

A Government Railway Police constable, travelling in S-7 bogie of Jammu-Tawi Express, said he removed some profusely bleeding passengers to nearby medical centres.

Makeshift relief camps with food, water and very basic first-aid were erected by villagers near the accident site.

Temporary medical camps were also set up by the army and the civil administration.