Scores hurt in train crash horror

A high-speed train derailed in eastern Australia, injuring more than 120 passengers as its carriages slammed into trees and ploughed through fields alongside the tracks.

Medical staff said it was a miracle nobody was killed.

The train, with 157 passengers and seven crew on board, came off the tracks at 1.15pm yesterday, Irish time (12.15am Tuesday, local time), about 250 miles north of Queensland’s state capital Brisbane, a police spokeswoman said.

Many passengers were probably sleeping when they were suddenly tossed around the carriages as they careered off the tracks.

The cause of the accident was not immediately known, and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) immediately launched an investigation.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman said the wreckage reminded him of a disaster film.

“The train is just a twisted wreck, it’s an absolute bloody mess,” a Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman said. “There are carriages on their side, bent and twisted and there are bogies (wheels) all over the place.”

Some carriages almost slid on to the adjacent Bruce Highway, the major east coast road.

“The train has plowed through the dirt like a bulldozer,” the unnamed ambulance spokesman said. “It's taken out trees, anything that was in its path has gone.”

The injured included 35 people being treated for major injuries and two listed in a serious condition, said Dr John Scott of Queensland state’s health department.

“To get away with the small number of (serious) injuries we have, I think is incredible,” Scott told Australian television.

The train was travelling from Brisbane to the northern town of Cairns when it crashed and was probably carrying some tourists.

Seven of the nine carriages ploughed off the tracks, the police spokeswoman said.

Queensland Rail, the company that operates the train, said two drivers and a crew member were among the injured. The remainder were passengers.

The Tilt Train, so called because it leans into turns so it can run faster, can travel at speeds of up to 100mph.

It was not immediately known if the train was travelling at full speed when it derailed.

Investigators were retrieving a “black box” data recorder to determine its speed and other details, Queensland Rail chief executive Bob Scheuber told ABC radio.

Nine of the injured were flown to hospital by helicopter, and 25 more were ferried to hospitals in ambulances.

Dozens more were taken to hospital by coach or treated at a makeshift triage centre set up at a nearby train station.