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PARIS - A New Zealander has been injured after a French high-speed train hit a lorry at a level crossing.
The vehicle's driver was killed and 35 passengers, all French except the New Zealander, were injured officials said.
The accident happened near the village of Tossiat, in eastern France and near the Swiss border, a spokesman for the local government said.
"Thirty-five people who were lightly injured - French nationals and one person from New Zealand - have been treated by the emergency services," he said.
The locomotive of the high speed TGV train, which was travelling from Paris to Geneva, was derailed but its carriages stayed on the tracks, state railways SNCF said.
An SNCF spokesman said the lorry was transporting an industrial concrete mixer and had come to a stop on the crossing for reasons yet to be determined.
French radio interviewed a passenger who said the lorry had been dragged down the tracks and broken apart.
"We were lucky that the train wasn't travelling at its top speed," the passenger added.
The local government's office said earlier the train's driver had been seriously injured but it said later medical checks had showed he had only suffered minor injuries.
The SNCF said traffic in the area would be disrupted for around 48 hours.
- REUTERS
