At least 12 people were killed and 11 injured in India on Wednesday night after they got off a train and were hit by another while on the tracks, local authorities said.

The passengers disembarked after rumors of a fire on their train spread panic among those on board, authorities said.

The accident happened around 5 p.m. in Maharashtra state, about 170 miles northeast of Mumbai, said Ashok Pawar, a police inspector at the Pachora police station. Passengers were on the Pushpak Express, a train traveling from Lucknow, in northern India, to Mumbai in the west, when news of the fire spread, he said.

Panic ensued and people began to leave the train when it eventually stopped, Mr. Pawar said. They were hit by another train, the Karnataka Express, which was passing on the adjacent track.

It was not clear how many passengers were on the Pushpak Express. Mr Pawar said the train was packed with people, many of whom were migrant workers traveling to work. As he said, the victims were seriously injured in the accident.

Authorities said they are investigating the incident.

“We will investigate exactly what was the reason, whether there really was a fire or it was just a rumor spread by some nefarious person,” said Maheswar Reddy, the police chief in Jalgaon district, where the accident took place. he said journalists.

Mr. Pawar, the inspector, said seven of the people who died were from Nepal and four from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, where Lucknow is. One body remained unidentified and the families of the victims are now in Jalgaon, he said.

Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra’s top government official, said late Wednesday that eight ambulances had been sent to the scene. The state government would offer financial assistance to the victims’ families, he said he said on social media, and would cover the costs for people who were injured.

The accident has raised more questions about the safety of train travel in India, where millions of people depend on a vast accident-prone rail network for transport, especially in rural areas.