French train derails after hay trailer crash

Five people were injured when a train hit a trailer filled with hay and derailed in central France, police said today.

A police official in the Haute-Vienne region said a tractor pulling a hay-filled trailer overturned on the railway tracks, and was hit by a train en route from Paris to Cahors.

The train derailed about seven miles (12km) south of Limoges.

The official said five people were injured, and other passengers were evacuated from the train. An investigation was under way.

The incident comes days after a train carrying liquefied gas derailed in Viareggio, Italy, setting off a massive explosion which destroyed nearby homes and left 22 dead.