At least 22 people were killed when a crane collapsed on a train in northeastern Thailand Transport News

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The train was traveling from Bangkok to northeastern Thailand when it derailed after a construction crane fell on it.

At least 22 people were killed and about 80 others injured when a construction crane fell onto a commuter train in northeastern Thailand.

The accident occurred on Wednesday in Sikhio district of Nakhon Ratchasima province, 230 kilometers northeast of Bangkok. The train was heading from the Thai capital to Ubon Ratchathani province.

Transport Minister Viphhat Ratchakitprakarn said in a statement that the plane was carrying 195 passengers and ordered an investigation.

He added that the dead were in two of the three vehicles that the crane collided with.

Tony Cheng, Al Jazeera’s correspondent from Bangkok, said the train was traveling under a construction site for a high-speed railway line when a crane working above collapsed.

“The train then derailed when it hit that crane, and a fire broke out briefly,” Cheng said.

He said, “Initial reports indicate that there were only four dead. This number jumped very quickly to 12, and we now understand from the Thai police who told Al Jazeera that the number is 22, and at this stage they expect the number to rise.”

The fire was extinguished, and rescue work is now underway, according to police.

Local resident Miter Interpania, 54, was at the scene when the accident occurred.

“Around nine in the morning, I heard a loud noise, like something sliding from above, followed by two explosions,” Mitre told Agence France-Presse.

“When I went to see what happened, I found the crane sitting on a passenger train containing three cars,” Mitter said. “It appears that the metal from the crane hit the middle of the second car, cutting it in half.”

Cheng said the route the train was taking was “very popular” and served densely populated areas in northeastern Thailand.

“This road was the site of a Chinese high-speed rail project, which has been under construction for some time — about a decade,” he said.

He added: “It is supposed to bring a high-speed railway, which is located on a concrete platform above the existing railway line. The pictures we have seen of the scene seem to show that the crane that was working there has fallen from these large concrete pillars.”