BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities say nine people were killed and four others were hurt when they were hit by a freight train while walking on a railway bridge near the northern port city of Qinhuangdao.

The Taiyuan Railway Bureau in Shanxi province — which oversees the stretch of the railway near Qinhuangdao — said on its official microblogging site Friday that the victims were local villagers who decided to walk across the railway bridge after rains washed out a local road.

It said the train could not stop in time.

Recent heavy rains have washed out roads in many parts of northern China.