A crane at a China-backed high-speed rail project in Thailand collapsed onto and derailed a passenger train on Wednesday, killing at least 31 people and injuring scores, local authorities said. Footage from the scene verified by AFP showed the crane’s broken structure resting on giant concrete pillars, with smoke rising from the wreckage of the train below. Rescuers worked to extract passengers from the tilted carriages in Nakhon Ratchasima province, northeast of the capital Bangkok on a train from the capital bound for Ubon Ratchathani province. Thatchapon Chinnawong, the district police chief, told AFP that 22 people had been confirmed dead and 80 more were injured. “We are now asking the hospital to say how many people are in critical condition,” Thatchapon said. Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said in a statement that there were 195 people on board, adding that he had ordered a thorough investigation to be carried out. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, currently campaigning to be reelected in a vote next month, is due to arrive at the scene of the accident later on Wednesday, a government official told reporters. The crane was working on a high-speed rail project when it collapsed and hit the passing train, causing it to derail and briefly catch fire. “At around 9:00am, I heard a loud noise, like something sliding down from above, followed by two explosions,” said 54-year-old local resident Mitr Intrpanya, who was at the scene. “When I went to see what had happened, I found the crane sitting on a passenger train with three carriages. “The metal from the crane appeared to strike the middle of the second carriage, slicing it in half,” Mitr told AFP . The accident happened at a construction site that is part of a $5.4-billion project backed by Beijing to build a high-speed rail network in Thailand. It aims to connect Bangkok to Kunming in China via Laos by 2028 as part of China’s vast Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Italian-Thai Development Public Company, the company contracted to construct the segment, issued a statement expressing regret and said it would provide compensation and relief to the families of those who died or were injured by the crane collapse. “A crane collapsed onto a train causing it to derail and catch fire,” the Nakhon Ratchasima provincial public relations department said in a statement. Live footage aired by local media showed rescue workers rushing to the scene, with a brightly coloured train derailed on its side as smoke billowed from the debris. Images shared by the ministry showed carriages overturned next to shrubland and firefighters extinguishing a blaze as smoke billowed out. Thatchapon, the police chief, later told AFP that authorities were pausing the rescue operation due to “chemical leakage” at the scene. The Nakhon Ratchasima provincial department said the train was travelling from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani province. Thailand already has around 5,000 kilometres of railway, but the run-down network has long driven people to favour travel by road. The elevated high-speed rail project, one of several under construction in Thailand, was being built above the existing rail line. Part of the collapsed crane is still propped up by the concrete stanchions built to support the new rail link, with debris dangling over the tracks below. Upon completion of the 600km high-speed railway, Chinese-made trains will run from Bangkok to Nong Khai, on the Mekong River border with Laos, at up to 250 km/h. Industrial and construction site accidents have long been common in Thailand, where lax enforcement of safety regulations often leads to deadly incidents. In 2023, a freight train killed eight people after it struck a pickup truck crossing railway tracks in eastern Thailand. A freight train killed at least 18 people and injured more than 40 others in 2020 when it crashed into a bus carrying passengers to a religious ceremony.