Train derails in France, 44 people injured

At least 44 people were injured, including one seriously, after a passenger train derailed Friday evening near Cléon, just south of Rouen in northern France, local officials said, the BBC News reported.

An 18-year-old woman was airlifted by helicopter to hospital in critical condition. French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said 180 passengers were on board the train, which was operating between Rouen and Caen in Normandy.

Tabarot said 140 firefighters and other emergency teams were being deployed to the crash scene. Photographs later showed passengers leaving the crashed train, and French media reported that three carriages overturned.

France's state-owned railway operator SNCF reported "significant disruptions" on its routes in the area. It said replacement buses would be provided.

French police sealed the crash area near the commune of Cléon. The cause of the derailment was not immediately known.