Two passenger trains collided in central China Monday morning, leaving at least three people dead and 60 injured. [Photo: CFP]

Two passenger trains collided in central China early Monday, leaving at least three people dead and 63 injured.

The accident took place at 2:34 a.m. at Chenzhou railway station in Hunan Province, said an official from Guangzhou Railway Group, which operates the station and the trains involved in the crash.

All the injured had been taken to nearby hospitals. Six of them are in serious condition, local doctors said.

Train K9017 from the provincial capital Changsha to Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, and train K9063 from Tongren, Guizhou Province, to Shenzhen collided, driving several carriages off the tracks.

The K9017 locomotive and its first five cars as well as the K9063 locomotive and its first two cars were derailed, the official said.

A conductor with K9017 said that the train was about to pull in when the accident happened.

"I don't know why it didn't stop at the station," said the unnamed conductor. "Instead, it rushed into K9063, which just started."

One of the trains crashed into two nearby houses, causing them to collapse.

"A strong voice pulled me out of dream," said Wang Manju, whose house is next to the station. She was astonished when she opened the door, to see the alley filled with dust and an overturned carriage.

"The train was twisted. Parts seemed to be torn down. I called the police after hearing screaming from the train," Wang said.

Two bodies were found in the store in front of Wang's house. The two, buried in the debris, were a mother surnamed Li and her son.

"It was terrible to look at," Wang said.

The fourth car of the K9017 was the most seriously damaged, rescuers said.

Yuan Shuxian, a student in her early 20s from Guangdong Province, had four stitches in her leg.

Recalling her horrible experience in the train, Yuan said that as she didn't have a ticket for a seat, she was standing at the joint between the fourth and the fifth carriages when the accident happened.

"Suddenly the train began to wobble, so violently that it was like a ship in the sea and I could hardly stand," she said.

"Then I saw sparks from the train, before all the lights went off ... It was fearful and my heart seems to break. My mind went totally blank," she continued.

Several seconds later, she heard people shouting and crying in the darkness. A crack appeared in the floor of the train and many people jumped out.