A freight train has hit and killed nine people on Friday morning, at the Taiyingzhen section of the Datong-Qinghuangdao Railway in North China's Hebei province, according to the Ministry of Railways.

The accident occurred at 5:28 am in the morning and four other people were injured in the incident, a ministry statement said. All the injured have been sent to hospital for treatment.

The ministry said torrential rain destroyed a path along the railway early Friday morning, so some villagers encroached railway side fences and walked along the railway line. When they reached a railway bridge, a?freight train failed to stop.

The ministry reminds the public not to walk along or across railway lines, especially in bad weather.