At least two carriages of a passenger train fell into a river after floods destroyed a bridge in Guanghan, southwest China's Sichuan Province Thursday afternoon, local authorities said.
A fire-fighter involved in the rescue operation told Xinhua that the two carriages had been swept 200 meters away in the river, but it was not immediately known how many passengers were inside the carriages.
They are trying to get close to the carriages in the river and save the passengers trapped, he said.
People aboard five other carriages on the bridge have been transferred to safe places, he added.
The accident happened at about 3:20 p.m. on the Shitingjiang Bridge section of the railway line linking Chengdu and Baoji, northwestern Shaanxi Province, when floods caused two bridge piers to collapse and the train deviated from its track, said a spokesman with the Chengdu Railway Bureau.
The train was traveling from Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi, to Kunming, capital of southwestern Yunnan Province.