24 dead as Turkish train derails in rain

Twenty-four people have been killed after heavy rain and a landslide caused a Turkish train to derail, 120km from the capital Istanbul.

Twenty-four people have been killed when a train derailed in the Turkish province of Tekirdag. (AAP)

Twenty-four people have been killed in northwest Turkey after five carriages of a train derailed following heavy rain and a landslide, deputy prime minister Recep Akdag said.

Investigators believe that heavy rains caused the ground under the rails to collapse, causing Sunday's crash, Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdag said.

The train was heading to Istanbul from Edirne, on the border with Greece, with 362 passengers and six crew members on board. Five of its six cars derailed.

Health Minister Ahmet Demircan said 318 were injured, with 124 of them still hospitalised.

Turkey's official Anadolu news agency said two machinists were called in for questioning at the prosecutor's office.

Television images showed several wagons laying on their side and emergency personnel walking to reach the crash site.

One survivor, walking along the rail track away from the accident site, told CNN Turk television that he had seen many bodies.