Nine people have been seriously injured in a rail crash in southern France.

Dozens more passengers were affected when a high-speed TGV train collided with a regional TER train on the Pau-Bayonne line.

The TGV train was reported to be carrying 178 passengers, while the smaller TER train had 70 people on board.

French media reports suggest the TGV train was stopped on the tracks and restarting when the crash occurred near the town of Denguin.

Police and firefighters arrived at the scene to help the injured passengers from the train.

The collision follows a recent damning report into the rail crash south of Paris last year, in which seven people died.