TWO people have died and nine were injured when a train was derailed by an enormous boulder which rolled into it near the French town of Annot.

Mayor Jean Ballester said yesterday that the rock fell from the mountain "with an extraordinary force" and struck the so-called "Train of the Pines", which runs from Nice to Digne-les-Bain.

Around 30 people were on board when it came off the rails. The train was still dangling dramatically from the tracks three hours after the accident, the side of one carriage caved in from the boulder.