New Delhi, Apr. 28 : Dozens of passengers were killed or injured on Monday when a passenger train en route from Beijing to Qingdao city in eastern China derailed and hit another train.

The trains collided on a main railway route in Zibo, in East China's Shandong Province at 4.43 a. m., Xinhua reported.

About 10 carriages toppled into a ditch, a witness told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The derailed train hit train 5034, which ran from Shandong's Yantai city to Xuzhou in the eastern Jiangsu Province, a spokesman with the Shandong provincial government confirmed.

Medical workers who are at the site for rescue work said heavy casualties were reported from both trains, but it was hard to make an immediate headcount.

The accident occurred in Hejiacun village, sandwiched between Zhoucun district and Wangcun railway station in the suburbs of Zibo, and about 70 kilometers east of the provincial capital Jinan.

The accident has disrupted two-way traffic on the Jinan-Qingdao Railway, a pivotal provincial rail link. (ANI)