Truck hits train in Australia, kills 10

SYDNEY, June 5 (Reuters) A semi-trailer truck crashed into a passenger train in the southern Australian state of Victoria today, killing at least 10 people, police said.

At least 24 people were injured and police fear the death toll could rise further with up to 13 people unaccounted for as emergency services searched the wreckage for more victims. ''I understand they are still searching the wreckage for missing people,'' police inspector Steve Gibson told Sky television.

The collision, at a level railroad crossing north of the rural town of Kerang in northwest Victoria, left a train carriage ripped open down one side, with the shattered remains of the truck nearby.

One passenger said the truck hit the second carriage, virtually cutting the train in half.

''The truck just didn't stop. He may have had the sun in his eyes. He tried to divert and he went off into the dirt and hit the carriage behind me,'' Sue Fyffee told Sky television.

''If the third carriage had not come off I think the whole train would have derailed,'' said a crying Fyffee.

''The back carriage is about 150 metres (450 feet) down the track and the carriage behind mine is just half gone. There is a big gapping hole in the side...the carriage is mangled, you wonder how anybody got out,'' she said.

Fyffee said passengers initially feared the train would be engulfed in fire. ''People were screaming. There was glass everywhere. I helped the elderly who had broken bones,'' she said.

Another witness, named only as Helena, told the Seven television network many of those injured had lost arms and legs.

Emergency officials said many of those hurt were treated at the scene of the crash, but those with serious injuries, including a 15-year old girl, had been flown to the Victorian capital of Melbourne for treatment.

''We have air ambulances flying in and out,'' said Robert Jarman, chief of nearby Kerang Hospital.

REUTERS SYU ND1620