Updated 10.20am

Five people died in a train crash in Hungary on Tuesday when a van drove onto the rails at a crossing, causing the train to derail, police said. 

All of the victims were passengers in the van which was carrying workers to work, police said in a statement.

"Five people died at the scene and more than 10 were injured", the statement said.

The accident happened near Mindszent, 140 kilometres southeast of Budapest just before 7am (0500 GMT).

According to Hungarian state railway MAV, the van entered the level-crossing despite the stop sign showing.

"There were 22 passengers on the train, two were seriously injured, eight suffered minor injuries, several of the van's passengers were killed," said the MAV statement.