AT LEAST 19 people have been killed after a collapsed crane fell on the tracks and smashed through a moving train.
Dozens of passengers were trapped inside the mangled locomotive as it set on fire with 50 others injured.
Around 195 people were onboard travelling from Bangkok to Nakhon Ratchasima province in Thailand this morning when the construction equipment plunged onto the tracks.
Passengers, made up of both locals and tourists, screamed as the train collided with the metal at speed.
Several of the cars were derailed in the 9am local time crash in the Ban Thanon Khot district.
Police and paramedics rushed to the scene to try and rescue those trapped inside the mangled metal.
Police superintendent Thatchapon Chinnawong said: “The construction crane collapsed onto a running train leaving from Bangkok.
“At this stage, we are still unable to confirm the identities of the deceased, but the injured victims trapped inside the train have all been evacuated.
“The death toll currently stands at 22, with more than 50 people injured.
“Rescue teams are now working urgently to recover the wreckage.”
Brave survivor Dao Boonpanya, 70, managed to pull himself out of the wreckage.
Recalling the horror, he said: “While the train was travelling, I was asleep and I suddenly heard a loud crash as a crane fell onto the roof of the train.
“Then the locomotive dragged the crane along, causing the carriage to be torn off the tracks.”
