At least 22 people have been killed and about 80 injured when a construction crane fell on a passenger train in northeast Thailand.

The accident took place on Wednesday in the Sikhio district of Nakhon Ratchasima province, 230km (143 miles) northeast of Bangkok. The train was headed from the Thai capital to Ubon Ratchathani province.

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Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said in a statement that there were 195 passengers on board and he had ordered an investigation to be carried out.

Those killed were in two of the three carriages hit by the crane, he said.

Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Bangkok, said the train was reportedly travelling beneath a construction site for a high-speed rail line when a crane working overhead collapsed.

“The train then was derailed when it hit that crane, and there was a brief fire that ensued,” Cheng said.

“Initial reports said there were only four fatalities. That very quickly jumped to 12, and we now understand from the Thai police who told Al Jazeera that it’s 22 and at this stage they are expecting it to climb,” he said.

A fire has been extinguished and rescue work is now under way, according to police.

Local resident Mitr Intrpanya, 54, was at the scene when the incident happened.

“At around 9am, I heard a loud noise, like something sliding down from above, followed by two explosions,” Mitr told the AFP news agency.

“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 said.

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Cheng said the route that the train was taking is “very commonly used”, serving heavily populated regions of northeast Thailand.

“This route has been the site of a high-speed Chinese rail project, which has been under construction for quite some time now – about a decade,” he said.

“It is supposed to be bringing a high-speed rail, which is on a concrete platform above the existing rail line. Pictures that we have seen of the scene seem to show the crane which was working up there has fallen from these big concrete columns,” he added.