MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) -- Rescuers in the Philippines smashed train windows on Friday to reach 100 passengers trapped when a carriage derailed and dragged other cars into a steep ravine, killing at least 10 people.

Police and railway officials said it was too early to pinpoint the cause but track and fittings in the area had been stolen in the past and sold as scrap metal.

Estimates of the number of people on board the train ranged from 312 to more than 400.

"It was speeding. Suddenly the lights went out and we felt the train coming off the tracks," Rolando Cruz, a passenger in the third car from the back, told a radio station. "Our coach overturned three times."

The dead in the early-morning crash around 165 km (100 miles) southeast of Manila included a one-year-old child.

At least 100 people were injured and 60 hospitalised after the crash, disaster officials said.

The train was travelling overnight from Legaspi City in the Bicol region to Manila, 550 km (340 miles) to the northwest. Earlier reports had said the train had been on a shorter route, from Naga City.

Disaster officials said the first report of the accident near Padre Burgos town came at about 3:30 a.m. (1930 GMT on Thursday).

A conductor on the train, Melquiades del Pillar, said there were about 150 people in the fan-cooled economy carriage, which shuddered as it rounded a bend.

"It was very quick. I felt like we were being pulled over," del Pillar said on radio.

Villagers, police and soldiers used ropes to reach the wreckage in the ravine and any tools at hand to get at those trapped inside. Philippine National Railways said it was sending a train with cranes to lift the damaged carriages.

"There are still people down there. We're trying to get them out," a police officer directing rescue operations told a radio station from the scene.

Police said the last four of the train's six cars plunged about 40 feet (10 metres) into a ravine that was at least 100 feet deep. The engine was still on the track, with two cars on their sides behind it.

In the thick brush of the ravine, one of the coaches was on its side and two were overturned. Survivors searched for their belongings as they waited for a relief train from Manila.

Police commandeered vehicles to rush the wounded to hospital in Lucena and smaller clinics nearby.

Rail disasters are unusual in the Philippines, but shantytown dwellers are frequently killed by passing trains.

"We have sent teams to inspect the tracks to see if there are missing parts because there were instances of theft in that area," a railways engineer said on radio.

The company said the coaches involved in the accident were among 30 second-hand cars donated by the Japanese government in 2000 to help the railways modernise its stock.

Sad fate of Train commuters in the Philippines.

The people near the train tracks were partly to blame for this tragedy. They were looting the victims

They said it was because of stolen spikes. It's a damn shame people are that desperate for "spikes" that they go to go steal them from a train track. What the hell are they going to do with them anyway?

Missing railroad spikes caused Quezon train crash

RP seriously needs to change its railroads and ban squatters from the areas where trains are by the time a railroad is operational. it's the PNP's fault too. it's their job to protect lives and with that comes the lives even of the squatters. a railroad is no place for a person to live.

that is sad. you really can't ban squatters cuz where they going to go

Damn, if only our government can do something to secure our railways....

Well it looks like they are going to try and move them.

Railway shanty dwellers in Manila to be relocated

the only thing i dont understand is why the government has to provide the relocation sites.. i mean, the squatters themselves did not have the right to occupy a private/government property so it's technically not the responsibility of the government to relocate them to another government owned land. by handling the relocation, the government is wasting again money for relocating ILLEGALLY STAYING people. i don't blame the government though.. sympathy has been always the greatness and weakness of Filipinos.