Train crash kills 51 in Taiwan's deadliest rail tragedy for decades

Many passengers were starting long weekend holiday; some carriages ripped apart in tunnel

A Taiwan express train with almost 500 aboard derailed in a tunnel on Friday after hitting a truck that had slid down a bank onto the track, killing at least 51 passengers and injuring 146 in the island's worst rail disaster in seven decades.

The train, an express travelling from Taipei to Taitung, came off the rails north of Hualien in eastern Taiwan. It was carrying many tourists and people heading home at the start of a long weekend traditional holiday to tend to family tombs.
 

Images of the crash scene showed carriages inside the tunnel ripped apart from the impact,