MOSCOW - Two freight trains collided in Russia's Urals region on Thursday, killing drivers of both trains, according to local media reports.

A spokesman from the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry told reporters that preliminary information showed that the crash was caused by brake failures.

"Two trains loaded with coal collided. One of them had 67 cars, the other - 69. The trains were moving in the same direction," the spokesman was quoted by local media as saying.

The train with 67 cars "caught up" with another train and rammed it, he added.

According to the spokesman, the accident occurred some 5 kilometers off the station of Simskaya of the Kuibyshevskaya railway in the Chelyabinsk region.

Some 70 cars overturned in the accident, causing serious damage to the tracks.