Eight people were seriously hurt in southern France when a train crashed into a fallen tree uprooted by a hailstorm, rescue workers have said.
The train was travelling at 140 kilometres an hour between Nimes and Montpellier when it hit the tree at 140 kilometres per hour, the state rail operator SNCF said.
The accident occurred near the town of Lunel, about 28km southwest of Nimes.
A critically-injured person was airlifted to hospital, according to the head of local rescue services. Fifty other passengers suffered minor injuries or shock.
"We were on the train when hailstones the size of ping-pong balls started falling, then we heard what sounded like an explosion," one passenger said.
SNCF said around 80 rescue workers, backed by helicopters, were deployed to the scene, where "access is very difficult."
The tree was a "very tall pine" located on private property next to the railway line, the company said.
Despite the impact, the train did not derail and traffic was expected to resume later Wednesday on one of the tracks of the line.
