Three people died in a train derailment in eastern Scotland on Wednesday that left carriages overturned and piled on top of each other on a steep wooded slope, making it hard for emergency services to access the scene.

Dark smoke billowed from the site of the accident for most of the day after the ScotRail train derailed in the morning in a narrow valley near Stonehaven, south of the city of Aberdeen.

Aerial footage showed one carriage detached from the rail tracks and lying on its side some distance down the slope. Another was completely overturned and had two carriages resting on it, one of which was also overturned.