At least 19 killed after crane falls on train in Thailand, 80 injured

BANGKOK - A train derailed in northeastern Thailand on Wednesday after a construction crane fell on three of its carriages, killing at least 19 people and injuring about 80, police said.

The accident took place on Wednesday morning in the Sikhio district of Nakhon Ratchasima province, 230 km (143 miles) northeast of Bangkok, on a train from the capital bound for Ubon Ratchathani province.

Local police told Reuters there were more bodies in the wreckage that had yet to be retrieved.

"Nineteen bodies have been recovered, but there are still some inside the train carriages that cannot be removed yet because the crane started shifting, so the team pulled back for fear of danger," Police Colonel Thatchapon Chinnawong said by phone.

Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn in a statement said there were 195 passengers on board and that he had ordered a thorough investigation to be carried out.

Those killed were in two of the three carriages hit by the crane, he said.

The crane was working on a high-speed rail project when it collapsed and hit the passing train, causing it to derail and briefly catch fire.

Images shared by the ministry showed carriages overturned next to shrubland and firefighters extinguishing a blaze as smoke billowed out.

The elevated high-speed rail line, one of several under construction in Thailand, was being built above the existing rail line.

Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Martin Petty and David Stanway/Reuters