NEW DELHI — Eight coaches of a passenger train derailed in northern India on Thursday, injuring at least 38 people, officials said.

The coaches of the Mahakaushal Express train fell off the tracks in Mahoba district of Uttar Pradesh state, said Indian Railways spokesman Anil Saxena. Railway police and engineers were investigating the cause, Saxena said.

Local villagers and railway workers pulled hundreds of passengers out of the coaches that had fallen on their sides. Some of the injured received first aid at the site, while around two dozen were taken to hospitals.

Accidents are relatively common on India's massive but poorly maintained railway network. Safety standards on the state-run system, which operates 9,000 passenger trains and carries some 23 million passengers every day, has been an ongoing concern amid a spate of accidents.