Dozens of people were injured and at least eight died after two trains collided in a suburb of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, authorities said Friday.

A commuter train travelling through the northwest suburb of Nova Iguacu crashed into another one that was reportedly changing tracks and had no passengers on board except for the personnel.

The incident occurred Thursday at around 1600 (1900 GMT) near a train station in the mentioned area, eight people being killed and more than 100 injured in the terrible accident, officials informed.

According to Supervia, the company owning the train, approximately 850 people left Rio one hour before the accident on board the passenger train that was travelling at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour.

Footage taken at the crash site showed piles of twisted metal along with a carriage that left the tracks and crashed on one of its sides.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the passenger train couldn’t avoid the impact and hit the last carriages of the empty train that was switching to another track. Rescue operations were hampered by the enormous amount of steel which became a trap for hundreds of people.

Emergency teams had to use blowtorches to release some of the passengers sealed off in the front car and transported the injured to a local hospital, authorities informed.

More than twenty persons were taken to the hospital, among them being the two drivers that could elucidate the mystery surrounding this crash.