FAMILIES across the region were holding their breath last night as the full horror of the disaster on the East Coast Main Line continued to unfold.

At least 13 people died when the early morning GNER commuter service derailed at 125mph and ploughed into an oncoming freight train laden with coal.

With the grim task of identifying the dead still proceeding, it is feared that the bulk of the casualties were from the North-East and North Yorkshire.

And the death toll could still rise as 75 others were injured, some critically.

The tragedy came only four months after the Hatfield crash and was another devastating blow for the rail industry as it tries to rebuild passenger confidence.

And by a grim coincidence, the engine in yesterday's crash was the same as the one involved in the Hatfield accident.

"We put different locomotives on different trains everyday," said a GNER spokesman. "It had no material effect on the accident - it is just a coincidence."

The disaster at Great Heck, just south of Selby, in North Yorkshire, was caused by a relatively minor road accident.

The London-bound train, with up to 100 passengers, left Newcastle at 4.45am, calling at Durham, Darlington, Northallerton and York.

At 6.12am, as it passed under the M62 at 125mph, it struck a Land Rover and trailer which had just careered off the motorway.

It is believed the Land Rover suffered a tyre blow-out, causing it to veer off the road.

The train derailed but stayed upright and continued for several hundred yards - until it smashed into the fully-laden Freightliner travelling towards it at about 40mph.

Drama student Janine Edwards, 22, from York, who was only a few carriages from the front of the passenger train, said: "I heard screaming and shouting and the lights went out. I held on to the table in front of me and then there was a huge impact."

Within seconds, the emergency services were alerted and fleets of ambulances and fire engines from four counties sped to the scene.

Hospitals in York, Pontefract, Hull, Doncaster and Wakefield were alerted, and three RAF Sea King helicopters were scrambled to join the rescue operation.

In driving snow and freezing winds, more than 100 firefighters joined paramedics to help the walking wounded and the more seriously injured. Several people had to be cut from the wreckage.

A nearby barn was pressed into use as an emergency reception area-cum field hospital. Helicopters flew the more seriously injured to hospital while others were taken in a fleet of 25 ambulances.

Ambulance service spokesman Nigel Metcalfe described the crash scene as like the aftermath of a bomb explosion. "You could hear mobile phones going off deep inside the mangled wreckage," he said.

People were suffering from "every kind of injury you can imagine" and there were "a vast number of fractures".

Rescuers repeatedly swept the wreckage with thermal imaging cameras and vibraphones, and the last survivor was pulled out at about 1pm.

A shell-shocked Christopher Garnett, chief executive of GNER, was among those who visited the scene as the rescue operation progressed.

"This is just terrible and our thoughts are with the injured and the relatives of those who died," he said.

"We have to get to the bottom of this. How was it possible for a car to come off the motorway like this?"

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott arrived on the scene shortly before 1pm for a briefing.

He said: "There has been an unbelievable set of circumstances."

Last night, Mr Prescott told the Commons that an interim report on the crash would be given to the Government within the next few days.

In an emergency statement to MPs, Mr Prescott said that once the Health and Safety Executive had given him the report, he would make a decision on "what further steps were appropriate".

Paying tribute to the emergency services and local people who dealt with the accident, he said: "It is essential that this appalling tragedy is subject to the fullest investigation."

Prime Minister Tony Blair said the disaster was a "horrendous accident which has shaken the whole country", and Tory leader William Hague joined in the praise for the 999 teams.

From Buckingham Palace, the Queen sent her "deepest sympathy" to the families and friends of the victims.

There was a one-minute silence before last night's England-Spain football friendly in Birmingham and players from both sides wore black armbands