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Belgian train crash: up to 25 passengers feared dead

15 February 2010 19:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. As many as 25 passengers were killed when two trains crashed head-on near the Belgian capital Brussels, APA reports quoting telegraph.co.uk web-page.
More than 150 people were injured in the crash and local emergency services warned that a confirmed death toll of 11 could rise to as high as 25.
The impact peeled away the front of one train carriage and threw at least one other off the tracks, causing the loss of limbs and other severe injuries.
The force of the collision smashed one train deep into the front of the other, tearing back the metal sides. The trains tipped high into the air and broke overhead power lines.
Eurostar and other high speed train services were suspended as emergency services continued to extract people from the wreckage.
Marc Descheemaecker, the chief executive of SNCB, Belgium’s national state-owned railway, said more than half of the 300 people travelling on the two trains had been injured.
A third train narrowly missed being involved in the wreck after â€œmaking an emergency brakeâ€.
â€It is a very sad and dark day for SNCB. We have lost several colleagues and people on these trains,â€ he said.
Mr Descheemaecker said that â€œboth drivers were probably lostâ€ in the crash. He refused to speculate on the causes of the collision and local claims that one the trains had passed a red light.
â€Our thoughts are with getting people out of wreckage, the victims and their families right now. There will be a full analysis by the authorities of the causes of this sad accident. It is too early to speculate now,â€ he said.
Patricia and Christian Lallemand were travelling to Brussels in the third coach of a train from Mons.
â€There was a big bang, a violent collision with no braking. And, then there was chaos,â€ she told The Daily Telegraph.
â€In our coach the injuries were light, with people wounded in the lower legs and head. When we left the coach I could see many seriously injured and one legless corpse thrown to the side of the track. The second coach had fallen over and the first was totally smashed. It was horrible and people were crying from inside the wreckage.â€
Christian Lallemand, who sustained a head injury and was hospitalised after first aid at a local sports centre, said: â€œIt was like an earthquake. It is lucky that it is holidays now because usually the trains are much more crowded and there are many children travelling to school.â€
Christian Wampach, 47, another passenger in the third coach, said: â€œIt was a nightmare. We were thrown about for about 15 seconds. There were a number of people injured in my car but I think all the dead were in the first car.â€