Train derailment kills at least 17 in northeastern Taiwan

Seventeen people were killed and at least 132 others injured on Sunday when one of Taiwan's newer, faster trains derailed on a curve along a popular weekend route, officials said.

The Puyuma express train was carrying more than 366 passengers from a suburb of Taipei toward Taitung, a city on Taiwan's southeast coast, when it went off the tracks at 4:50 p.m., the Taiwan central government said in a statement.

The railway administration, citing the fire department, said the 17 people died of cardiac arrest. The injured were being treated in four different hospitals. One of those hurt is a U.S. citizen.

Photos from the scene just south of the city of Luodong showed the train's eight cars in a zig-zag formation near the tracks, some on their sides. Most of the deaths were in the first car, which flipped over, a government spokesman said.

Local television reports said passengers were trying to escape through train windows and that bystanders had gathered to help them before rescuers arrived.

It's unclear how many people were still trapped in the train, said the spokesman, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity. More than 20 soldiers had joined firefighters in their rescue work as of 8 p.m.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the derailment.