HANOI, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A train hit a stone-carrying truck in Vietnam's central Thanh Hoa province early Thursday, killing the train's two drivers, injuring over 10 passengers, and leaving the North-South rail route paralyzed.

After the collision, the train, which was carrying over 400 passengers on the way from Hanoi capital to central Da Nang city, had its locomotive and six compartments, including four passenger compartments derailed, the provincial traffic police said.

The train's 42-year-old driver and his assistant died on the spot.

Some local people said the two railway staff in charge of operating the barrier at the crossing road could have not operated it when the train came near, enabling the truck to cross the rail.

Between January and April, 6,020 traffic accidents occurred in Vietnam, killing 2,788 people, severely injuring 1,576 people and lightly hurting 3,060 others, the country's Traffic Police Department said.