Rescuers were quickly on the scene of the crash
At least 12 people have died and some 100 have been hurt in a head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight train near Los Angeles.
The crash derailed both trains and forced the engine of the passenger train back into one of its coaches.
Fire-fighters put out a blaze under one of the carriages and have been cutting through metal to rescue trapped people.
The exact cause of the crash - believed to be one of the worst in Los Angeles' history - is not yet known.
The crash happened at 1632 local time (2332 GMT) on Friday, at a time when the passenger train is thought to have been carrying more than 200 people, most of them commuters.
The Metrolink passenger train was travelling from Los Angeles to Moorpark, north-west of the city, a spokeswoman said.
It collided with a Union Pacific freight train on a curving stretch of track in Chatsworth, in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles county.
'Total destruction'
The mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, told reporters that between 10 and 15 people had died in the crash, with more than 50 injured.
"That's probably the most serious trainwreck to occur here in a very long time," the AFP news agency reported him saying.
 |  I heard a loud crash and I saw black smoke... some people were mangled pretty bad  Phil Thiele, Metrolink passenger |
The front coach of the Metrolink passenger train derailed and was crushed by the engine after the collision. Two other coaches of the train remained upright.
Aerial images of the crash scene showed teams of rescuers using ladders to reach injured people inside the mangled front coach.
A number of casualties were treated near the scene, while some were airlifted to hospital.
There are fears that the death toll will rise further.
Los Angeles City Fire Captain John Virant described the scene as "total destruction".
"It was chaos. The injuries are crushing," he was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
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