At least 66 people died in a major railroad accident that took place in China early Monday. More than 250 other were injured as two passenger trains collided, Xinhua reported.

One of the trains was heading from Beijing to Qingdao while the other was traveling between Yantai and Xuzhou. The impact occurred at about 4:40 a.m. (2043 GMT Sunday) in the town of Zibo, Shandong Province.

The first train derailed and caused the other to derail as well in what seem to be the worst railroad accident China has seen in more that a decade.

According to Xinhua, there were only 60 dead. 57 people died at impact, while three others died of their injuries at the hospital. The injured include four French nationals. The identity of the four wasn’t released.

One of the trains derailed at a bend and then struck the other. The impact threw about ten cars into a nearby ditch, witnesses said. Many passengers managed to climb out of the wrecked cars after the impact.

"We have received around 40 injured passengers but nobody died," the medical staff at one of Zibo's hospitals said according to AFP.

"Some of them are seriously injured, some slightly injured. Their injuries are external."

Railway Minister Liu Zhijun has arrived at the crash site and supervised the rescue operations. He demanded an investigation to determine the cause of the accident, Xinhua reported.

The railroad accident brought the traffic on a major rail route linking Jinan, the capital of Shandong, to Qingdao, to a halt.