Five Asian railway workers were killed in Saudi Arabia early Monday when two rail cars of a passenger train flipped over and crushed them, a statement by the kingdom's state railway company said.
The incident occurred at 4:30 a.m. local time (0130 GMT) on the line connecting the capital Riyadh to Hofuf in the Eastern Province, the company said.
"The incident took place when the train driver tried to shunt the train, causing the flip-over of two rail cars which ploughed into a number of workers conducting maintenance works at the site, " the company said in a statement carried by SPA news agency.
Local Arab News newspaper quoted a source at the company as saying that the four of the victims are from Nepal while the fifth is an Indian.
One other worker, a Nepalese, was injured in the incident, which brought passenger train services between Riyadh and Hofuf to a halt, Xinhua reported.