Two die as big boulder smashes into train in French Alps

Two women were killed when a massive falling boulder hit a passing train in the French Alps yesterday, leaving one of its carriages dangling precariously off a steep, snow-covered embankment.

Eight people were injured in the accident, which took place as the train travelled from the coastal city of Nice to the popular tourist town of Digne-les-Bains along a narrow, winding and sometimes breathtakingly steep track.

A Russian woman was killed as well as a woman living in the Alps region, said local prosecutor Stephane Kellenberger, adding that 34 people had been on board the train. Both victims were in their 70s.

Witnesses said an enormous boulder had struck the train, violently throwing one of its two carriages off the track.

Images of the accident show the carriage hanging off the edge of a ravine, with a large crater in its side as the other teeters on the edge.

"It was as if the boulder fell from the sky, like in an earthquake," said traveller JeanJacques Messaoud, 47, who said he had seen a victim bleeding heavily.