High speed rail horror kills three: Passenger train slams into the back of goods vehicle on the same track in Belgium
- Passenger train 'violently' crashed into back of a freight train in Belgium
- Crash left three people dead and nine people were also injured in collision
- The passenger train was travelling at 55mph at the time of the crash
- Two of the six carriages of the passenger train ended up being derailed
Three people have been killed and nine are seriously injured after a passenger train 'violently' crashed into the back of a goods train at high speed in Belgium.
The accident occurred in eastern Liege province at Hermalle-sous-Huy on the banks of the Meuse river, when the train was travelling from the west to the east of Belgium.
According to the RTBF state broadcaster, mayor of the commune of Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse, Francis Dejon, said the collision had been 'very violent.'
Rescue workers stand near the scene of the collision between a passenger train and a freight train in Belgium which left three people dead
The mayor of the commune of Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse, Francis Dejon said that three people had died and 40 were injured
He added that three people were killed in the wreck and about 40 hurt, but said those numbers could change.
The mayor explained: 'The passenger train is really in a bad way, it's stunning.
'The front carriage is scrunched back up on itself. We were very lucky not to have more victims,' he told the Belgian news agency Belga.
Nine passengers were seriously injured to varying degrees with some described as being in a critical condition by authorities during a press briefing near the scene of the crash.
A further 27 people were being cared for, and the number of injured was originally reported as 40, roughly the total number of people on board.
The accident occurred in eastern Liege province at Hermalle-sous-Huy on the banks of the Meuse river
Two of the six carriages of the passenger train derailed during the crash with the freight train in Belgium
Rescue workers were at the scene early this morning to try and remove the train wreckage from the tracks
Frederic Sacre, spokesman for Infrabel, the company that manages Belgium's rail network, said the trains had been traveling on the same track, and that the passenger train hit the freight train from behind.
RTL broadcasting said the passenger train carrying about 40 people had been traveling at 55 mph (90 kph) when it hit the freight train shortly after 11 pm last night and that two of its six cars had derailed and tumbled onto their side.
'All our services are mobilized, and are completely cooperating with rescue services,' Infrabel and SNCB, the company that operates Belgian trains, said in a statement.
After the crash last night, firefighters rushed to the wreckage and had to free people by bringing them through the roof of the carriage
One of the two derailed carriages lying on its side following the collision late last night in Belgium
By 2am on Monday, all passengers had been freed from the wrecked cars, RTL said.
It said some of the survivors were taken to a nearby abbey.
Others were reportedly transported to a local sports centre, where they were being offered psychological counseling.
Police and firefighters from the nearby city of Liege were dispatched to the scene to assist, local sources said.
The circumstances of the accident were not immediately clear, with questions remaining over whether the passenger train was able to brake before the crash.
In February 2010, 18 people were killed and 95 injured when two trains collided in a Brussels suburb in one of Europe's deadliest railway accidents of the past decade.
More recently, one person was killed and nearly 50 injured when a train carrying highly toxic chemicals derailed and exploded near the city of Ghent in May 2013.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3626696/Belgian-media-3-dead-40-injured-train-collision.html#ixzz4AnLO6ELu
No comments
Post a Comment