BUNDABERG, Australia, (AFP) - A high-speed passenger train ploughed through trees and dirt "like a bulldozer" after it mysteriously derailed in northeast Australia, injuring nearly all 163 people on board.
As a major investigation was launched, ambulance officials expressed amazement that no one onboard the "City of Townsville" express was killed, although six were airlifted for treatment and another 29 driven by ambulance with spinal, pelvis and other serious injuries.
The Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) sent a team of top investigators to the scene near the coastal town of Bundaberg, some 300 kilometres (187 miles) north of the Queensland state capital Brisbane, while officials insisted the train was considered safe and the tracks had been checked on Monday.
"Thank God no one was killed," said Queensland state Premier Peter Beattie, as he toured the wreck hours after the crash. "When you look at the site it is in fact a miracle that no one was."
Emergency services described the crash site as "a complete mess". Witnesses said trees were taken down by carriages, one of which ended up embedded in the ground, and the flying train itself narrowly missed a major trunk highway running parallel to the line.
An ambulance service spokesman described the train as "just a twisted wreck".
"The train has ploughed through the dirt like a bulldozer," the spokesman said. "It`s taken out trees, anything that was in its path has gone."
The "tilting train" is Australia`s fastest train and was on a trip from Brisbane to the northern city of Cairns when it derailed just after midnight (1400 GMT Monday).
Passenger Frank Houdini said he was woken as the train left the tracks.
"The next thing I know, I`ve gone through the front door and there`s no more train," Houdini told national radio.
Queensland Rail employee Helen Anderson suffered burns when a hot coffee machine landed on her in the train`s galley.
"The lights went off, went on, went off, then just bang. Total darkness," Anderson said from a hospital bed in Bundaberg.
There was initial confusion about the number of injured, but the Queensland ambulance service said it had treated more than 160 people.
Bob Scheuber, chief executive of Queensland Rail, said the tilt train involved in the crash could travel at speeds of up to 160 kilometres (96 mph) per hour and derailed on a section of track designed to handle speeds up to 150 kilometres per hour.
"We don`t know what speed, yet, the train was doing, but there is a black box recorder on the train and of course that will be one of the key pieces of information that the ATSB will want to look at in determining the cause," he said.
Emergency services took several hours to free about 50 passengers trapped in one of the derailed carriages.
Premier Beattie said the black box would be the key to determining the cause and said the service, only introduced in 1998, was the fastest in the world on a narrow gauge.
An ATSB official said foul play had been almost ruled out as a possible cause.
"There is no foul play as we understand," Kit Filor, an investigations official with the agency, told AFP.
Prime Minister John Howard and Governor-General Michael Jeffery prayed for the victims of the crash at a service in Canberra.
11/16/2004 - 13:02 GMT - AFP