Pic: Twitter/Orleans News
Updated 22:02
EMERGENCY SERVICES HAVE said that at least six people are dead and many are injured after a train derailed near the Paris suburb of Bretigny-sur-Orge.
“There are several dead,” a senior emergency worker told AFP, while another source in emergency services said there were “several dozen wounded”.
France’s interior minister has said that at least seven people are dead and that the information on the casualty numbers is “constantly evolving”. Sky News reports that the train was carrying around 350 passengers.
Pictures show several train carriages on their side and officials said earlier it was an accident that authorities fear may have caused “many casualties”.
The Paris prefect’s office said a “red alert” plan had been activated at 5:23 pm (1523 GMT) and the interior ministry confirmed the accident.
A police source said there were reports of at least one dead in the accident, which took place at the Bretigny-sur-Orge station and involved a train heading from Paris to the west-central city of Limoges.
“The train arrived at the station at high speed. It split in two for an unknown reason. Part of the train continued to roll while the other was left on its side on the platform,” the police source said.
First published 5.32pm
- additional reporting from © AFP, 2013
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