NEW YORK CITY (REUTERS) - At least four people were killed and 63 injured on Sunday when a commuter train derailed in New York, with at least five cars from a Metro-North train sliding off the tracks, officials said.

The train derailed on a large curved section of track at 7:20 a.m. (8:20 p.m. Singapore time)in New York, a short distance away from Metro North's Spuyten Duyvil station in the Bronx borough, said Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for Metro North, a subsidiary of New York State's Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

A spokesman for the city fire department confirmed the number of dead and injured and said victims were being transported to local hospitals.

At least one rail car was lying toppled near the Hudson river and police and other rescue workers were searching for survivors along the shoreline and the waterway.

Dozens of firefighters were on the scene helping pull people from the wreckage.

Many people suffered injuries and some were transported to area hospitals, said New York City Fire Department spokesman Michael Parrella.

The train was a diesel with seven cars. The locomotive was on the north end pushing the cars southward.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was preparing to tour the scene, a spokesman for the governor said.