At least 12 people have been killed and 20 injured in a train collision in northeast France.
A passenger train had just left Luxembourg when it collided with a freight train at Zoufftgen in the Moselle region.
The two trains were a double-decker Luxembourg regional express travelling south to Nancy, and a freight train heading north into Luxembourg.
It is understood the crash occurred on a section of track that was undergoing maintenance work.
As a result of the work only one track was open instead of two, and trains were supposed to wait their turn to go on it. For reasons that are not clear, the two trains met head on.
More than 100 rescue workers from France and Luxembourg are trying to extract the injured from the wreckage, and a helicopter has been shuttling victims to hospital.
French railway officials have closed streets and roads in the area around the site of the accident.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Transport Minister Dominique Perben have travelled to the scene.
