40 injured in TGV train crash in southwest France

Forty people were injured, four of them seriously, in a collision between a high-speed TGV and a regional train near the southwest French city of Pau on Thursday, authorities said.

Employees of the SNCF(FRENCH NATIONAL RAILWAY COMPANY) and the investigators work next to two trains which collided on the same way. Pic: AFP

The accident happened when a regional train going to Dax apparently ran into the back of the Tarbes to Paris TGV, which was carrying 178 passengers, near the village of Denguin in the foothills of the Pyrenees.

Police said some of the injured were airlifted to hospital by helicopter.

Officials had earlier said that 17 people were hurt.

Rescue workers -- who have set up a crisis centre in a school near the scene - said there were 60 people on board the local train when the accident happened at 1538 GMT.

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