Moscow: Sixty people were injured when a train derailed near Russia's border with China on Thursday, Russian media reported.

"According to our latest figures, 60 people have been injured in the accident, six of them critically," RIA news agency quoted an Emergencies Ministry spokesman as saying.

Russian state television showed piles of debris at the scene of the derailment in the Amur region and ambulances heading to the site. The cause of the derailment was unknown, officials said.

Russian news agencies reported that Vladimir Yakunin, head of state-owned Russian Railways, was flying to the scene to oversee the clean-up operation.