Rescue workers labored to free the dead and injured from the crumpled wreckage of a passenger train that collided head-on with a freight train near France's northeast border with Luxembourg on Wednesday, killing at least five people.
The impact of the crash shortly before midday local time lifted one of the passenger train's cars on top of another, compressing it. The top French official for the eastern Lorraine region, Pierre-Rene Lemas, said rescue work would continue through the night.
Rescuers had retrieved four of the five confirmed dead by evening, a Luxembourg police official said. Four hearses arrived and left the site at Zoufftgen, about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) south of the border.
At least one more body remained stuck beneath the pileup, the official said on condition of anonymity. It remained unclear whether and how many others could remain trapped.
"This is a terrible tragedy," said Jean-Marie Demange, a national lawmaker and mayor of the nearby town of Thionville. "Lots of people from both countries commute across the border."
Lorraine regional authorities said two train drivers and a person who was working on the tracks were among the dead. At least five other people were injured, two seriously, and 10 were treated for shock.
The passenger train was traveling from Luxembourg to the French city of Nancy. The train line it was traveling on was being repaired, so it switched onto a second track, hitting the oncoming freight train, said France's SNCF rail operator.
Several cars of the freight train were either crumpled up, bent skyward or tipped over on their sides.
More than 300 police and rescue workers from both France and Luxembourg were at the scene.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin delayed a trip to the French Antilles to visit the crash site with his counterpart from Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker. Villepin said he was "deeply distressed by this drama."
SNCF director-general Guillaume Pepy said the 22-car freight train had a green light at the time of the crash, and said there were no signs of speeding.
