French train driver killed and 16 injured in level-crossing crash

The locomotive hit a truck carrying military equipment, local authorities said (Jean-Francois Badias/AP)

A French high-speed train driver was killed and 16 people were injured when his locomotive hit a truck carrying military equipment at a level crossing in northern France, local authorities said.

The driver of the truck was detained, and an aggravated manslaughter investigation was opened, but it was too early to determine the exact cause of the crash, prosecutor Etienne Thieffry told reporters.

The head of the national railway authority SNCF, Jean Castex, said the railroad crossing gates were functioning correctly.

The truck was severely damaged in the incident (Jean-Francois Badias/AP)

Rescue crews attended the scene after the crash on Tuesday at a railroad crossing in the town of Bully-les-Mines on a train route leading from Dunkirk to Paris, the regional administration said in a statement.

It said that the driver was killed and 16 people were injured, two of them seriously, and that more than 200 train passengers were evacuated.

The facade of the locomotive was badly mangled and the truck also severely damaged, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene.

The train remained on the tracks, and the railway was closed while emergency teams worked in the area.