PARIS - THIRTEEN people were injured on Friday with six suffering serious injuries when a train derailed near the south-western French city of Limoges after hitting a trailer, the police said in a statement.

Three wagons derailed after the train rammed into the trailer carrying straw that had accidentally toppled on the tracks.

The train was running between Paris and Cahors. The accident occurred at around 8.40pm (1840 GMT, 2.40am Singapore time).

Several wagons went off the tracks but did not overturn, an AFP photographer said.

'Six people have serious injuries and seven are lightly injured,' a police officer said. But an emergency rescue worker on the site said of the 13 injured that only two were in seriously condition and one evacuated by helicopter.

The train was carrying some 450 passengers, the state rail company SNCF said.

Rail traffic was disrupted and workers were busy trying to clear one of the two blocked tracks. -- AFP