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By ninemsn staff and wires
Police have confirmed eight people are dead and another 24 injured after a semi-trailer collided with a V-line passenger train at a level crossing in Victoria's north.
Earlier, police put the number of wounded at 52.
The accident happened at a level crossing on the Murray Valley Highway 10km north of Kerang at 1.40pm (AEST) today — 40 minutes into the train's journey between Swan Hill and Melbourne's Southern Cross Station
Police said 40 people were involved in the crash, incluing the driver of the truck who is in a critical condition in hospital.

Witness and passenger Sue Fyffe told Sky News of the mangled carriages:"You just wonder how anybody got out."

Ms Fyffe said she and other passengers helped the injured.

"People were sitting in seats with glass all over them.

"All we could hear was people screaming and crying and moaning - it was just awful, devastating.

"It was just shocking, it was awful, there was just glass, and elderly ladies sitting there, I helped some of the elderly who had lots of cuts, some of them had broken bones."

Ms Fyffe said the carriage behind hers caught the worst of the impact.

"The truck just didn't stop, he tried. I don't know whether he didn't see the train until the last minute, but he tried to divert and hit the carriage behind me and we just felt it.

"It just felt as if the whole train was going to derail.

"The carriage behind mine is just half gone; there's a big gaping hole in the carriage behind.

"You could just see smoke, you could see the dirt from the truck where he had tried to stop.

"People were screaming, ... the initial shock was just everyone screaming because they thought the train was going to go over.

"The carriage that was behind mine is virtually half demolished, half of the carriage is actually just all mangled, pushed in."

The National Nine News helicopter pilot, who flew to the crash site this afternoon, said "it was a scene of devastation".

"There were body bags on the ground ... walking wounded wrapped in blankets."

It is believed the train was due to arrive in Melbourne at 5.09pm today.

A chaplain would be sent to the station to help families and friends who may have come to meet passengers, a spokesperson for Southern Cross Station said.

The crossing where the accident happened had flashing lights but no boom gates, a spokesman for Victoria's shadow transport minister Terry Mulder said.

It is not known if the lights were working when the accident happened.

A Rural Ambulance Service spokeswoman said a teenager was among those critically injured in the accident.

She said the teenager had been airlifted to Melbourne for treatment and was in a critical condition.

CEO of the Kerang District Hospital, Robert Jarman, told Sky News his 25-bed facility was expecting to treat up to 50 per cent of the injured.

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