By Andrew Quinn
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At least two people were killed and others were injured when a Washington, D.C., subway train derailed and smashed into another train on tracks on the outskirts of the city during Monday's afternoon rush hour.
Live television pictures showed several mangled cars of one train lying on top of the other on open-air tracks.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which runs the "Metro" subway system, said a six-car Red Line train that was heading out of town derailed and collided with another train at about 5 p.m. EST/2100 GMT on Monday.
"At this point right now we can confirm that there are two fatalities," the authority said in a statement.
The accident trapped passengers in one or more of the subway cars.
Emergency rescue personnel worked to free the passengers, while others carried injured people off the trains on stretchers.
"We are working to first get everyone outside of the train and everyone who needs medical attention will get (it)," the general manager of metro system, John Catoe, told reporters.
Catoe said that up to 70 people "walked off" the trains, but he had no immediate estimate of the number of injured.
The accident occurred between Fort Totten and Takoma stations on the north-eastern outskirts of the city.
One witness described how one train appeared to collide with and then run up and over the second train.
"It was very mangled, everything is ripped out of there," the woman, who was not identified, told the local ABC television affiliate.
Ladders were placed along the wreckage as rescue workers examined the wreckage and used cutting devices to free those trapped inside.
A reporter with Fox television's local news affiliate said he saw what appeared to be a body covered with a sheet, and several injured passengers including one wearing a neck brace.
The subway system is heavily used to get in and around the U.S. capital.
The Metrorail and Metrobus services serve a population of 3.5 million people within an area of 1,500 square miles (3,890 square km). The subway had a total of 215.3 million trips in the last fiscal year.
(Additiional reporting by Washington Bureau, Writing by Andrew Quinn, Editing by Frances Kerry)