Two packed commuter trains collided head-on during rush hour outside Brussels yesterday, killing at least 20 people, a local mayor told Belgian media.
The crash left several carriages on their side, witnesses said, while an official said doctors were carrying out amputations at the scene.
The two trains hit each other near the town of Halle, about 15km southwest of Brussels in Dutch-speaking Flanders.
Halle Mayor Dirk Pieters told Flemish public television VRT and national press agency Belga that there were “at least 20 dead.”
“All the emergency services are there. The most serious injuries are being treated at the scene before being taken to hospital,” the mayor said.
Belgian Secretary of State for Mobility Etienne Schouppe told the RTBF broadcaster there were many seriously injured at the scene who needed amputations.
“The collision was brutal, the train didn't brake,” one unnamed passenger was quoted as saying by the RTL television news Web site. “Wagons have been turned over, lots of people are in shock.”
Neither the national rail company, SNCB, nor the track operator, Infrabel, were able to confirm the toll. Infrabel spokeswoman Fanny Charpentier said police believed there were at least 12 dead.
One train was going from Quievrain to Liege and the other from Leuven to Braine-le-Comte, Infrabel said.
The accident caused major rail traffic disruption.
Thalys and Eurostar high-speed train services in and out of Brussels were seriously disrupted, the two operators said.
Thalys advised passengers to change their travel plans.
Eurostar said services might “remain suspended all day.”
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