At least 10 dead in Strasbourg train crash

At least ten people have been killed and several more injured after a high-speed train derailed and caught fire near Strasbourg, according to reports.

Agence France-Presse quoted a local official named Dominique-Nicolas Jane saying the accident happened “because of excessive speed”. Dozens of technicians were on board for testing, a source close to the investigation told the agency.

The crash happened during a test run in the town of Eckwersheim, on a new Paris-Strasbourg line.

The train was carrying 49 people when it derailed, caught fire, and plunged into a canal. The injured were airlifted to hospital.

The derailment was due to "excessive speed", officials say.

Pictures showed the locomotive partly submerged. Wreckage was also scattered in a field beside the track.

The second section of the Paris-Strasbourg high-speed TGV line on which the crash happened is set to open for service in April 2016.

Junior transport minister Alain Vidalies and Ecology Minister Segolene Royal will visit the scene, French media reported.