KUALA LUMPUR • The LRT carriage was struck hard just seconds after it moved out of the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) station, said Mr Eizzuan Haiqal, who was one of the 213 on the ill-fated train.

"When I looked around, many were bloodied, and many were unconscious or lying on the floor with broken limbs," he told mStar, the Malay language news site of The Star daily.

He said most of those injured had knocked themselves against the glass panels at the edge of the passenger seats or the doors, or had slammed against the metal poles in the train.

Mr Eizzuan, who was heading home from work, started to help others around him. Only much later was he told that the four-carriage LRT train had collided with an empty train around 8.45pm.

Pictures and several videos shared on social media from passengers inside showed blood everywhere, with at least two people lying unconscious on the floor, surrounded by broken glass. Some of the passengers were crying.

One woman had passed out, with what appeared to be blood smearing the floor around her head.

Passenger Afiq Luqman Mohd Baharudin, 27, told Bernama news agency the impact of the collision "was so strong that I suffered injuries to my head, left leg and chest".

A woman was sobbing loudly as she spoke to someone on the phone, relating the shocking accident.

Officials say 64 individuals were receiving treatment in hospital yesterday, with six of them in critical condition.

Rescue officials, including firemen, soon entered the train and asked those who could move on their own to exit the four-carriage train. There is a narrow path beside the LRT track in the tunnel which has dim lights.

Those badly injured were evacuated with stretchers and many were treated in Avenue K, a mall located opposite the KLCC with direct access to the KLCC LRT station.

In one video, several passengers lying on stretchers appeared to remain still, while around them rescue officials treated other victims and carried others into waiting ambulances.

The injured were taken to nearby Kuala Lumpur Hospital, the capital's general hospital.

There, the healthcare team who had worked the evening shift were urged to stay on to help the night crew.

They all did so eagerly, consultant emergency physician Alzamani Mohammad Idrose was quoted as saying by The Star.

The nursing team provided beds to all those who had to be warded, with the temperatures of all patients scanned and those admitted screened for Covid-19.

"By 1am, all patients were assessed and had treatment plans," he said.