Bihar train disaster, train wreck that killed hundreds of people on June 6, 1981, when a passenger train derailed on a bridge and plunged into the Baghmati River in the state of Bihar, northern India. The passenger train was moving from Mansi to Saharsa when seven of the train’s nine cars fell into the river. The explanation for the train’s derailment is not entirely known. Some reports stated that the train’s engineer sharply applied the brakes to avoid hitting a cow that had walked onto the tracks. Slippery conditions caused by torrential rains also were likely a factor. The chances