TAIPEI: A passenger train carrying 490 people has derailed in a tunnel in eastern Taiwan, killing at least 50 people and injuring dozens more, authorities said, noting that the death toll may rise as recovery efforts continue.

The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said late on Friday that the derailment in Hualien County involved a maintenance truck sliding from a slope near a construction site above the railway, the DPA news agency reported.

The train driver was among the dead, the fire department told the government's executive office, and at least 69 survivors were being treated in several hospitals in the surrounding Hualien County.

The head of an eight-carriage train with 492 passengers and four crew members travelling from Taipei to eastern Taitung County hit the vehicle shortly before entering a tunnel, officials said. TRA officials told that it was suspected that the parking brake was not holding the vehicle and that they were working to gather more concrete details of the crash.

The derailment occurred on the first day of a four-day break for Taiwan's annual tomb-sweeping tradition. In early April, many Taiwanese people return to their hometowns to pay tribute to their ancestors and clean up family tombs.

The train driver and his assistant were both killed. The 51 victims included one French national, officials said. The National Fire Agency said that the death toll might rise as some incomplete bodies on the scene were spotted and had not been removed.

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