A passenger train collided with a goods train in Zoufftgen, near the Luxembourg border, at about 1145 (0945 GMT).

It was initially reported that as many as 12 people may have died, but the French transport minister said later that five were confirmed dead.

A senior regional official described the scene as "an apocalyptic vision".

"There's a mess of steel and tangled metal, with wagons up-ended and pointing into the sky," said Bernard Mertz.

The two trains had been sent onto the same section of the line after engineering works had restricted traffic to a single track, said a spokesman for the railway operator SNCF.

SNCF initially said two train drivers had died, as well as nine passengers and a person working on the track.

But later reports said five were dead, five injured and 10 others were being treated for shock.

But the local Moselle administration said several people were trapped inside the wreckage, "which means the toll could evolve".

Trapped

The passenger train left Luxembourg at 1130 and was due to arrive in the city of Nancy at 1255.

It collided with the freight train, which was heading north to Luxembourg.

SNCF told reporters its train had received a green signal to switch onto the first track, as the second one was closed for maintenance work.

A spokesman said: "For reasons that are not clear, these two trains came together head-to-head."

The number of passengers on board the double-decker regional express is not known.

More than 100 rescue workers were at the crash site to set up a mobile hospital and treat victims, a local fire chief, Samuel Gesret, told French television.

"We are faced with an important and dramatic situation," Eric Soupra, a local civil security official, told French radio.

Some of the wounded were trapped in the wreckage and would have to be cut out, he said.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Transport Minister Dominique Perben went to the scene, as well as investigators who will be looking into the cause of the crash.

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Cargo train not to blame for French train crash: SNCF

Xinhua: October 12, 2006

The cargo train which collided with a passenger train in France on Wednesday in the country's most serious accident since 2002 was not to blame for the crash, a French SNCF railway official said on Wednesday.

The cargo train was the first on to the section of track on which the collision happened, said Guillaume Pepy, executive director of the state-owned SNCF rail company. He added that the driver had not passed a red light.

The SNCF rail company initially said nine people on the passenger train, the drivers of both trains and a person working on the track were killed in the incident. At least 21 were injured, some seriously.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who was en route to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, ordered his plane to return to France, so he could visit the scene. President Jacques Chirac also issued a statement expressing his condolences.

The crash took place at around 11:45 local time at the village of Zoufftgen, 1.6 km south of the Luxembourg border, on a section of track undergoing maintenance work.

The passenger train was a double-decker Luxembourg regional express traveling south to the French city of Nancy. The cargo train had been heading north into Luxembourg.

The SNCF spokesman Philippe Mirvill said the line on which the passenger train was traveling was being repaired, so it switched on to a second track, colliding with the cargo train.

Bertrand Mertz, vice-president of Lorraine regional council, told media that the incident had been caused by a "line-control mistake by people in Luxembourg."