One dead and 30 injured as double-decker passenger train derails in the Netherlands
At least one person was killed and 30 injured, many seriously, when a high-speed passenger train slammed into heavy construction equipment and derailed in the Netherlands today.
At the scene of the accident in Voorschoten, a village near The Hague, rescue teams were seen taking the injured away in the early darkness. The accident happened around 3:25 am (0125 GMT), the emergency services said.
The double-decker train was traveling between Amsterdam and The Hague and derailed about 60 people.
At least 19 people with serious injuries were taken to hospital in a fleet of ambulances, while others were treated at the scene, a fire service spokesman said, adding that 11 injured people were being cared for in the homes of local residents.
“One person has died and at least 30 people have been injured. The seriously injured are taken to hospital, eleven are at home with local residents,” said the Hollands Midden emergency services. “Specialists are working to secure the train.”
At least one person was killed and 30 injured, many seriously, when a high-speed passenger train slammed into heavy construction equipment and derailed in the Netherlands today
An aerial photograph of the derailed train in Voorschoten clearly shows the extent of the shock crash this morning
Emergency services are working on April 4 at the site of a derailed train in Voorschoten
The double-decker train ran between Amsterdam and The Hague and derailed about 60 people
At the scene of the accident in Voorschoten, a village near The Hague, rescue teams were seen taking the injured away in the pre-dawn darkness
The front carriage of the night train from the city of Leiden to The Hague derailed and ended up in a field after the accident, while a second carriage overturned on its side.
A carriage was suspended above a ditch with water and a third carriage remained upright, while a fourth caught fire, ANP news agency reports.
Several ambulances and a helicopter were deployed to take seriously injured occupants to hospital.
“We heard a loud bang and suddenly the lights went out,” an unknown witness told Omroep West.
“Initially we couldn’t get off the train because there was no electricity,” said the man, who appeared in a state of shock.
“We finally arrived after what felt like hours,” the man added.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. Dutch media reported that a small construction crane was on the rails, but authorities did not immediately confirm this.
The front carriage of the night train from the city of Leiden to The Hague derailed and ended up in a field after the accident, while a second carriage overturned on its side
One carriage hung over a small ditch with water and a third carriage remained upright, while a fourth caught fire, ANP news agency reports.
A general view shows rescue operations underway following the derailment of a passenger train after it hit construction equipment on the tracks in Voorschoten, Netherlands, on Tuesday
Several ambulances and a helicopter were deployed to take seriously injured occupants to hospital
Emergency services are working on April 4 at the site of a derailed train in Voorschoten
Services on the busy link, used by trains running from Amsterdam to Brussels and Paris, have been halted and will not resume until the afternoon, railway officials said.
“This is an incredibly tragic accident,” said mayor Nadine Stemerdink van Voorschoten. “We are sorry that there has also been a death. My thoughts go out to all the family and friends of those involved.’
John Voppen, CEO of the rail network company Pro Rail, called the accident ‘a black day for the Dutch Railways and said the cause is being investigated.
A rescue team can be seen at the track after the train derailed in the early hours of the morning
Mayor Nadine Stemerdink van Voorschoten called the shocking incident ‘an incredibly tragic incident’
John Voppen, CEO of rail network company Pro Rail, called the accident “a black day for Dutch Railways”
An unidentified witness said it “felt like hours” by the time they got out because there was no electricity
The worst train disaster in the Netherlands occurred on January 8, 1962, when two passenger trains crashed in Harmelen, near the center of Utrecht, killing 93 people and injuring 52 others.
That accident happened in dense fog when a driver missed a warning signal and the two trains collided head-on.
A train collision with a hydraulic crane in the Central Netherlands in 2016 killed one person and injured six others.
Another person died and 117 others were injured in a collision near Amsterdam in April 2012. It was later reported that a driver disregarded a stop sign.