SHOCK footage shows the moment a passenger train dramatically came off the rails after colliding with a truck in Russia, leaving at least 20 injured.
The train smashed into the truck at a crossing in the Volgograd region in the country’s southwest.
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The truck attempted to cross the tracks on a red light, according to local reports.
Some 324 Emergencies Ministry specialists and 109 pieces of equipment are working at the passenger train derailment site in Kotelnikovo.
Two Mi-8 emergency helicopters were dispatched to the scene.
There were 812 people aboard the train and more than 20 are injured, according to the state-run TASS news agency.
Interfax earlier reported more than 100 are feared hurt, including children.
Meanwhile, Russian outlet Shock had more grave figures, saying there were 140 injured with two people dead.
The seriously wounded lorry driver Aslambek Usmatov, 43, was rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
Footage showed the aftermath of the carnage with carriages toppled over onto fields by the tracks.
One of the train cars appears to have been thrown about 10 metres.
According to Shot, one woman had her legs pinned with emergency services scrambling to wrench her out.
Passengers are being both treated on-scene and rushed to hospital, TASS reported.
Russian Railways confirmed the smash was caused by a truck driver attempting to cross the tracks at 12:35pm.
Hundreds of workers are said to be clearing up the site with traffic across the tracks suspended.
According to reports, driver Aslanbek has been questioned by police.
He claimed he did not have time to brake before the crossing.
He is now being investigated for the crime of “violation of safety rules for the movement and operation of railway transport”.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said: “All the circumstances of the incident are being established.”
A TOTAL NIGHTMARE, WITNESSES SAY
A witness described the derailing as a “total nightmare”.
She added: “A KAMAZ [truck] flew across [the railway line].
“People are trying to climb out, this is a nightmare.”
A second woman said: “Look, what a nightmare. This is our railway crossing in Kotelnikovo.
“Carriages have collapsed, look. People are climbing out, what a horror.”
A passenger on the train said: “A KAMAZ was some 400 metres away as we were approaching the crossing.
“The crew used the emergency brake at a speed of 95kmh [60 mph].
“There was a sharp hit. All we could see was a cloud of dust.
“I saw five carriages – one upside down, one on its side, three at 45 degrees.”
The train was en route from Kazan to Adler, part of the Sochi tourism hub on the Black Sea, a 47 hour journey.
It is the second catastrophic train crash in one month in Russia.
Last month two people were killed and 70 injured in a crash involving a tourist train from bleak Arctic mining town Vorkuta to Black Sea resort Novorossiysk.
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