Passengers from the Blackmore Vale endured a nightmare last night, after one train derailed and another crashed into it.

A train from Portsmouth Harbour to Bristol Temple Meads derailed at 6.48pm last night, after hitting an unknown object on the line.

Seven minutes later, a South Western train from London Waterloo to Honiton smashed into the derailed train – people nearby described the sound as ‘like a bomb going off’.

Investigators are now trying to ascertain how the crash happened. The derailment should have caused an alert, stopping the second train from ploughing into the first.

The Office for Rail and Road and the Rail Accident Investigations Branch will be looking at what caused the derailment.

One survivor said: ‘It was really scary, lots of people started taking videos saying “mum and dad, I love you”, scared they were going to die’.

The derailment happened in the Fisherton Tunnel in Salisbury. About 60 people were on each train at the time of the collision, and witnesses and passengers described a ‘fireball’ sparks and smoke, with people trying to break out of the carriages.

A Sherborne-bound passenger Dimitri Popa told the Daily Mail: “It all happened so fast… I was just sitting in the first carriage and there was a huge crash. Then I saw the flames and got pretty scared, and all the lights went out. The carriage was 45 degrees to the right. We didn’t know where we were or anything… we were all just so shocked.’

Royal Navy Able Seaman Morgan Harris, 20, who was travelling from London back to his base in Yeovil, told the Daily Mail he was thrown from his seat due to the impact of the huge crash. He said: “It was all going along normally then, all of a sudden, there was this massive bang and all of the lights went out. There were sparks and flames from where we had come off the track, and there was a load of ash coming from outside. Our train was on its side… I was thrown out of my seat and banged against the table.”