Some saved, some not: rescuers face Thai train crash havoc

"I saw bodies piled up inside a carriage with metal wreckage all over when I looked through the window... We tried to pull them out but they were trapped," 28-year-old waitress Penporn Poomrateuk told AFP.

"I felt scared," said Penporn, who rushed to the scene after hearing the sounds of a train and then a crash from her family's restaurant in Thailand's rural Nakhon Ratchasima Province, northeast of the capital Bangkok.

She said she "felt pity" for the stricken passengers, "some travelled with their loved ones -- some who were rescued but the other one wasn't".

A crane at a construction site of a high-speed rail project collapsed onto the passenger train below, causing it to derail.

Nearly 200 people were on board the train which left from Bangkok, authorities said.

"I ran to the train and heard people crying for help. I helped pull the injured out from a carriage," said Penporn, whose family-run restaurant is just across the road.

Her husband, a cook at the restaurant, was busy filling orders at the time, she said.

At the scene, Penporn saw fire and fuel leaking from the tilted carriages.

"I called to people who could help themselves out. Some who had less serious injuries could climb out of the carriage," she told AFP.

Penporn said she ultimately helped pull "20 or 30 people" from the wrecked train, some with minor injuries and others with serious head wounds.

The health ministry said 32 people were killed, 64 injured and three missing.

The collapsed launching gantry crane was left resting across giant concrete pillars -- built to hold up a future elevated high-speed rail line -- while mangled train cars that ran on Thailand's existing network lay askew.

Dozens of rescuers walked around the twisted metal carriages, searching with sniffer dogs for people still inside, while others used cranes from the high-speed rail project contractor Italian-Thai Development to remove debris.

The firm expressed condolences, and promised to compensate the victims' families and cover medical expenses for the injured.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, visiting the scene hours after the accident, said it was "clearly the fault of the construction company".

"We must determine the cause so this incident can serve as a lesson," he told reporters.

Thailand's state rail operator said it ordered Italian-Thai to halt construction until an investigation was completed.

Pasinee Klaharn, a 31-year-old homemaker, said she had just started making breakfast when she heard a loud noise.

She ran outside and reached the site of the accident, about 300 meters (980 feet) from her house.

There, Pasinee said she saw three people on the ground with head wounds and broken limbs.

"My husband climbed down inside a carriage and helped a couple of people before rescue teams arrived."

Rescuer Nopporn Somjit told AFP his team helped carry around 10 bodies from the train while another group went inside the carriages to pull victims out.

"This is one of the most serious accidents I have worked during my 30 years of experience," he said.