Kathmandu. At least 22 people have been killed and several others injured after a crane plunged off a railway project in Thailand, local officials said.

Video footage released by AFP showed the damaged structure on huge concrete poles with smoke billowing from the wreckage below.

Rescuers were evacuating passengers from the derailed train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeast of the capital Bangkok. AFP quoted district police chief Thachapon Chinnavong as saying 22 people were killed and 80 injured.

Thailand’s $5.4 billion high-speed train project was involved in the accident. As part of China’s massive “Belt and Road” infrastructure, the project aims to connect Bangkok to Kunming in China via Laos by 2028.

According to a press release from the provincial public relations department of Nakhon Ratchasima, a crane fell off the railway line and caught fire. Footage broadcast by local media showed rescuers rushing to the scene, smoke billowing out of the wreckage and a box falling from a railway line.

Police chief Thachapon confirmed authorities had suspended the rescue operation due to a “chemical leak” at the site. The train was en route from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani province when the accident occurred, according to the Nakhon Ratchasima provincial department.

Transport Minister Fipat Ratchakit confirmed that 195 people were on board the train and said authorities were working to identify the dead. He ordered authorities to investigate the cause of the crash, the statement said.

After the completion of the 600-kilometer-long high-speed rail project, trains will run up to 250 kilometres per hour from Bangkok to Nong Khai, on the Mekong River border with Laos. Earlier in 2023, a freight train killed eight people after colliding with a pick-up truck crossing railway tracks in eastern Thailand.

In 2020, at least 18 people were killed and more than 40 injured when a bus carrying passengers at a religious ceremony derailed on a freight train.