New Delhi - Four people were killed and 11 injured Wednesday in a bizarre train accident in southern India when unknown persons drove an empty train out of a station leading to a collision with a goods train, officials said. "The empty rake which was waiting at a suburban terminal near Chennai was removed by some unauthorized miscreants onto the sector track and it collided with a goods train coming from the opposite direction," Southern Railways chief public relations officer Meenu Ittyerah said.

The accident took place at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station in the north-western suburbs of Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state.

Ittyerah said four persons had been killed and 11, including two Railways staff, were injured.

She said several bystanders waiting at a platform at the Vyasarpadi Jeeva station were among the injured.

It was not clear whether the unauthorized persons driving the empty rake were among the dead or injured, she added.

Movement of rail traffic between Chennai central station and suburban Arakkonam, about 30 kilometres north of the Tamil Nadu capital, was been disrupted.

The collision led to fires in two compartments of the empty rake and the impact also threw several passengers on to the tracks, PTI news agency reported.

The empty rake was due to leave the Moore Market station complex half an hour after it was driven off by the unauthorized persons and several passengers are believed to have jumped on to the train as it moved out.

The railways safety committee and the Railways Police are enquiring into the incident, Itteryah said.(dpa)