Eight dead in Israel train crash

Rescue teams initially struggled to reach the remote crash site

Eight people were killed and almost 200 were wounded in one of Israel's worst ever train crashes.

The packed passenger train was going from Tel Aviv to Be'er Sheva when it collided with a coal truck at a remote crossing near the town of Kiryat Gat.

Witnesses spoke of horrific scenes, with passengers thrown from carriages and somersaulting rail cars.

An investigation has begun, but some reports suggest the truck driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

The train carrying more than 300 passengers hit the truck at around 1800 (1500 GMT) on Tuesday near the Kibbutz Revadim, some 40km (25 miles) south of Tel Aviv.

Rescue teams found mangled wreckage strewn around a nearby sunflower field after at least two rail carriages overturned on impact.

It's the worst accident I've ever seen Dudi Greenwald Medic at the scene

Witnesses said many people, who had been standing because the train was full, were flung from the carriages.

"People flew into the [first] car, began bleeding; pieces of glass from the windows flew on them, there was a lot of chaos," one passenger, who was lightly hurt in the crash, was quoted in Haaretz newspaper.

Five people were pronounced dead at the scene - including the truck and train driver - and three others died later. Ten hospitals took in many of the 195 wounded.

Shocking tragedy

More than 60 ambulances were called to the scene, but struggled to get near to the remote crash site.

Israel Defence Force helicopters were drafted in to help evacuate the casualties.

"It took about 15-20 minutes for rescue services to arrive. We felt really helpless. All we could see around us was fields. We had no idea where we were," Army Radio reporter Daphna Arad told Israel's Channel 2.

"Soldiers took out their bandages and began to treat the injured as much as possible."

Israeli broadcasters interrupted their scheduled programming to report from the scene.

Officials made clear several times it had been an accident, not a terror attack.

Train crashes in Israel are rare, and the BBC's Alan Johnston in the region says the scale of this tragedy shocked Israelis.

Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit said investigators would submit their findings on the crash within a week.

Media reports quoted investigation sources as saying the driver was thought to have been working for 30 hours straight and, as a result, may have fallen asleep at the wheel.