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At least one person was killed and 30 seriously injured, when today a high-speed passenger train collided with heavy construction equipment and derailed in the Netherlands.
Rescue teams were seen evacuating the injured in the dark of dawn at the scene of the accident in Voorschoten, a village near The Hague. Emergency services said the accident occurred around 3:25 a.m. (0125 GMT).
The double decker train was traveling between Amsterdam and The Hague and was carrying about 60 passengers when it derailed.
At least 19 seriously injured people were taken to hospital in a fleet of ambulances while others were treated immediately, a fire department spokesperson said, adding that 11 injured people were being cared for at the homes of nearby residents.
One person died and at least 30 people were injured. Holland’s Meden emergency services said those with serious injuries were being taken to hospital while 11 were at the homes of nearby residents. “The specialists are working to secure the train.”
At least one person was killed and 30 seriously injured, when today a high-speed passenger train collided with heavy construction equipment and derailed in the Netherlands.
Emergency services work at the site of a train that derailed in Voorschoten, on April 4
The double decker train was traveling between Amsterdam and The Hague and was carrying about 60 passengers when it derailed
Rescue teams were seen removing the injured in the dark of dawn at the scene of the accident in Voorschoten, a village near The Hague.
The front carriage of the night train from Leiden to The Hague derailed and fell into a field after the accident, while a second carriage flipped onto its side.
APS said one vehicle got stuck over a small hole with water and a third vehicle remained standing while a fourth vehicle caught fire.
Several ambulances and a helicopter have been deployed to take seriously injured passengers to the hospital.
“We heard a loud bang and suddenly the lights went out,” an anonymous witness told local TV channel Umrop West.
“At first we couldn’t get off the train because there was no electricity,” said the man, who looked in shock.
“In the end we got to what seemed like hours,” the man added.
It was not immediately clear what caused the accident. Dutch media reported that there was a small construction crane on the tracks, but authorities did not immediately confirm this.
The front carriage of the night train from Leiden to The Hague derailed and fell into a field after the accident, while a second carriage flipped on its side
APS said one vehicle was stuck over a small hole with water, a third vehicle remained upright, and a fourth vehicle caught fire.
A general view shows rescue operations underway after a passenger train derailed after hitting construction equipment on the track, in Voorschoten, Netherlands, on Tuesday.
Several ambulances and a helicopter have been deployed to take seriously injured passengers to the hospital
Emergency services work at the site of a train that derailed in Voorschoten, on April 4
Railway officials said services on the busy line used by trains running from Amsterdam to Brussels and Paris have stopped and will not resume until the afternoon.
“This is a very tragic accident,” said Nadine Stymerdinck, the mayor of Voorschoten. “We also regret the death. My thoughts go out to all the family and friends involved.”
John Vauben, chief executive of Pro Rail, described the incident as “a black day for Dutch railways” and said the cause was under investigation.
The worst train disaster in the Netherlands occurred on January 8, 1962, when two passenger trains crashed in Harmelen, near the central city of Utrecht, killing 93 people and injuring 52 others.
This accident occurred in thick fog when a train driver missed a warning signal and the two trains collided head-on.
One person was killed and six injured when a train collided with a hydraulic crane in central Holland in 2016.
Another person died and 117 others were injured in a crash near Amsterdam in April 2012 with later reports that the driver did not honor the stop sign.