In a major accident, an XPT train with more than 160 passengers derailed near Wallan city in Australia in the evening at 7:30 pm and two passengers were killed and several injured. Rescue teams have reached the spot and paramedics are attending on those injured while one severely injured passenger has been airlifted to Melbourne.
The earlier info on social media by a passenger by his Twitter handle @Rickard_Scott stated, "Fortunately only a few people seem (to be) injured in our carriage. Stuff flew everywhere. Carriages crumpled at edges. We walked out. Most people (are) able to walk out. Fab response by SES."
The initial images put out by passengers in the Sydney-Melbourne train show badly mangled train coaches and passengers were seen walking out of the wreckage. The train was carrying about 160 passengers, said reports.
Emergency medical services team has been rushed to the scene and many people who were injured were attended by paramedics at the spot, while one passenger has been airlifted to Melbourne hospital, Ambulance Victoria confirmed.
According to the county fire authorities, all passengers have been taken out of coaches safely. However, ABCNews said the driver is still trapped. "All 160 passengers have been removed safely from the Sydney-Melbourne interstate train that derailed near Wallan, north of Melbourne at about 7:50pm," said its tweet.
Timeline of past train accidents in Australia
Australia's worst railway accident was in 1977 at Granville near Sydney in which 83 people died. In December 1999, 7 people died and 51 injured when Lithgow commuter train slammed into rear of Indian Pacific in Glenbrook.
In July 2002, 9 people injured when a passenger train slammed into a derailed coal train at Hexham, near Newcastle. Again in October 2002, at Adelaide four people died when the Ghan interstate train collided with a school bus.
Here are some messages put out instantly on Twitter from the accident spot:
