The incident occurred at around 2am as the passenger train was travelling the 200 kilometre (120 mile) route from Dewele town, near Djibouti’s border, to Dire Dawa, according to local officials cited by state media.
“An accident that happened on the Dire Dawa-Dewele line has killed 14 people and caused serious and light injuries on 29 other people,” according to a Facebook post by Dire TV, which did not provide further details.
Photos published by the outlet showed several carriages overturned, and others crushed.
Train accidents are relatively rare in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country with some 130 million inhabitants.
In 1985, more than 400 people were killed and 500 injured after a train travelling from Djibouti to Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa fell into a ravine.