TAIPEI: At least 54 people have reportedly been killed and more than 156 injured after a Taiwanese train carrying onboard about 495 passengers derailed inside a tunnel in the mountains of Hualien, eastern Taiwan on Friday after hitting a truck that slid off a road leading to a nearby construction site.

The crash, which also killed the train's driver, is the island's worst rail disaster in at least four decades.

Taiwan's transportation minister Lin Chia-lung who visited the site today morning said to journalists that he was, 'very sorry' and that he will take full responsibility for the accident.

The train, Taroko No. 408, also called the Taroko Express, was travelling from Taipei to Taitung, carrying many tourists and people heading home at the start of a long weekend traditional holiday to tend to family tombs. Half the train entered the tunnel and the other half came off the rails after the impact with the truck.

According to the reports in Taiwan media, due to the special occasion on the weekend, the train was full of passengers, and many people who could not find a seat were standing and these people were severely impacted due to the incident. 

One of the survivors said that there were many families with children in the ill-fated train and added that passengers were crushed due to the impact, many were trapped between each other while some survivors were forced to climb out of windows and walk along the train's roof to safety.

Images of the crash site on Taiwan media showed the train carriages inside the tunnel ripped apart from the impact, while rescue workers were trying to pull out passengers trapped in the wreckage.

Preliminary investigation by the government’s disaster relief centre officials has said that the unmanned construction truck had apparently slid down a hillside above the tracks as its emergency brake was not properly engaged. The driver of the truck has been taken into custody and further investigation is going on.