At least 70 other people are also believed to be trapped in the wreckage in the worst train crash in Taiwan in at least 40 years.

The transport ministry also said some 40 injured passengers had already been sent to hospital with others in the process of being admitted.

Emergency services earlier reported “multiple persons with no vital signs” of life.

The Central Emergency Operation Center said rescuers were trying to get to four carriages inside the tunnel that were badly damaged and difficult to access, AL Jazeera reported.

The eight carriage train, on its way from Taipei to Taitung and carrying 350 people, came off the tracks at 9:28 am (01:28 GMT) in a tunnel north of Hualien, according to the Taiwan Railways Administration.

The service was so busy that some people were forced to stand and thrown through the air as it derailed.

Taiwan’s last major railway accident was in 2018 when a passenger train in eastern Taiwan’s Yilan derailed, leaving 18 people dead.

In 1991, 30 were killed in Miaoli when two trains collided. More than 100 people were injured.