At least 22 people have been killed and about 80 injured when a construction crane fell on a passenger train in northeast Thailand.

The accident took place on Wednesday in the Sikhio district of Nakhon Ratchasima province, 230km (143 miles) northeast of Bangkok. The train was headed from the Thai capital to Ubon Ratchathani province.

The crane was being used to build an elevated track as part of a joint Thai-Chinese high-speed rail project, according to reports. It fell onto the moving train, causing it to derail and briefly catch fire.

Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said in a statement 195 passengers were on board the train and he had ordered a full investigation. Those killed were in two of the three carriages hit by the crane, he said.

Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Bangkok, said the death toll is expected to rise.

“Initial reports said there were only four fatalities. That very quickly jumped to 12, and we now understand from the Thai police who told Al Jazeera that it’s 22,” Cheng said.

Thai media reported that rescue teams have been using heavy equipment to remove trapped passengers from the wreckage.

Local resident Mitr Intrpanya, 54, was at the scene when the incident happened.

“At around 9am, I heard a loud noise, like something sliding down from above, followed by two explosions,” Mitr told the AFP news agency.

“When I went to see what had happened, I found the crane sitting on a passenger train with three carriages. The metal from the crane appeared to strike the middle of the second carriage, slicing it in half,” Mitr said.

Cheng said the route that the train was taking is “very commonly used”, serving heavily populated regions of northeast Thailand.

“This route has been the site of a high-speed Chinese rail project, which has been under construction for quite some time now – about a decade,” he said.

“It is supposed to be bringing a high-speed rail, which is on a concrete platform above the existing rail line. Pictures that we have seen of the scene seem to show the crane, which was working up there, has fallen from these big concrete columns,” he added.

Industrial and construction site accidents have long been common in Thailand.

In 2023, a freight train killed eight people when it struck a pick-up truck crossing railway tracks in eastern Thailand.

Three years earlier, a freight train killed at least 18 people and injured more than 40 when it crashed into a bus carrying passengers to a religious ceremony.

In March, an under-construction high-rise building collapsed in Bangkok after an earthquake, killing more than 100 people. (Al Jazeera)

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