Madam Lim Sim Eu, 49, was fast asleep when the Singapore-bound train came to a sudden halt, waking her and her 15-year-old son Daniel.

'I was woken up by people screaming, and saw the passengers' luggage strewn all over and the coach tilted,' said the Malacca resident, who had boarded the train at Taiping.

The derailment, which killed the driver and injured 12 passengers, left Madam Lim and others in shock. Six of those hurt were Singaporeans.

Another passenger, Mr Abdul Majid Elias, 53, said he was seated when he heard a loud bang in front and felt the coach shake violently.

'Then the air-conditioner and lights went out before the train came to a complete stop,' he said.

The accident took place just after 3.30pm yesterday. The train from Butterworth, Penang, was carrying 210 passengers and had 12 coaches. It derailed near Rahang New Village just next to the Seremban-Tampin trunk road, just south of Kuala Lumpur.

The locomotive and the first coach jumped the rails and landed upside down in the mud next to the tracks.

Two other coaches went off the tracks and down a steep slope into ditches, which were about 2m deep, and three other coaches were also derailed.

Rescuers took about an hour to remove the driver, Mr Yahya Osman, 40, from inside the locomotive, which was submerged in mud.

State Fire and Rescue Department chief Salleh Sarbini said Mr Osman had died on the spot.

'We had to dig him out as he was buried in the mud,' he said.

The passengers were evacuated within half an hour.

Those not injured were ferried on buses to Tampin station 40km away, where they boarded another train.

State police chief Osman Salleh said one woman was admitted to Tuanku Ja'afar Hospital with back and neck injuries, while the others were given outpatient treatment.

The managing director of train operator KTM, Mr Mohd Salleh Abdullah, said it was too early to establish the cause of the accident, which took place at a low-lying area that had suffered flash floods during the recent wet spell.

'We will certainly conduct a thorough investigation,' he said, adding that the driver had been with KTM for more than 20 years.

Yesterday's derailment is the second to have taken place in the past month.

Two people were killed on April 9 when a train travelling from Tenom to Beaufort in Sabah state went off the tracks and plunged into a river about 4km from Tenom.

Bernama, The Star/Asia News Network