World
Feb 16, 2010
18 dead in train crash
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A head-on collision between two rush-hour commuter trains outside Brussels on Monday killed at least 18 people and injured 162, the local governor said, adding that driver error was suspected. --PHOTO: AP
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HALLE (Belgium) - A HEAD-ON collision between two rush-hour commuter trains outside Brussels on Monday killed at least 18 people and injured 162, the local governor said, adding that driver error was suspected. Emergency workers suspended after nightfall a search for more bodies in the mangled wreckage of the carriages. 'We don't think there are any more victims in the trains,' said crisis centre official Anja De Wolf. 'But there could still be more bodies trapped under the carriages,' she said. The high-speed crash, one of the worst rail accidents in Belgian history, happened at around 8.30 am (3.30 pm Singapore time) as commuters headed to work in the capital. The front ends of both trains were pushed upwards in a mass of twisted metal. Other carriages were hurled onto their sides in thick snow near Halle, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) southwest of Brussels.
The accident, which involved 250-300 commuters in the two trains, left thousands of travellers elsewhere stranded as Eurostar and Thalys suspended international services to and from the city. Groggy survivors wandered around in a state of shock or burst into tears as they were taken to a nearby sports centre to be treated. The Belgian Red Cross issued an appeal for blood donors. 'The shock was terrifying, it knocked us down like ninepins,' said a survivor who gave her name only as Sylvie as she emerged with an injured arm. Mr Gaetan, 36, who was in one of the last carriages of the train coming from Mons, near the French border, was unharmed and said he was lucky. 'I saw people dead and injured,' he told AFP. Flemish Brabant provincial governor Lodewijk De Witte said the bodies of 15 men and three women had been recovered. -- AFP
Feb 16, 2010
18 dead in train crash
<!-- end left side bar -->
A head-on collision between two rush-hour commuter trains outside Brussels on Monday killed at least 18 people and injured 162, the local governor said, adding that driver error was suspected. --PHOTO: AP
HALLE (Belgium) - A HEAD-ON collision between two rush-hour commuter trains outside Brussels on Monday killed at least 18 people and injured 162, the local governor said, adding that driver error was suspected. Emergency workers suspended after nightfall a search for more bodies in the mangled wreckage of the carriages. 'We don't think there are any more victims in the trains,' said crisis centre official Anja De Wolf. 'But there could still be more bodies trapped under the carriages,' she said. The high-speed crash, one of the worst rail accidents in Belgian history, happened at around 8.30 am (3.30 pm Singapore time) as commuters headed to work in the capital. The front ends of both trains were pushed upwards in a mass of twisted metal. Other carriages were hurled onto their sides in thick snow near Halle, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) southwest of Brussels.
The accident, which involved 250-300 commuters in the two trains, left thousands of travellers elsewhere stranded as Eurostar and Thalys suspended international services to and from the city. Groggy survivors wandered around in a state of shock or burst into tears as they were taken to a nearby sports centre to be treated. The Belgian Red Cross issued an appeal for blood donors. 'The shock was terrifying, it knocked us down like ninepins,' said a survivor who gave her name only as Sylvie as she emerged with an injured arm. Mr Gaetan, 36, who was in one of the last carriages of the train coming from Mons, near the French border, was unharmed and said he was lucky. 'I saw people dead and injured,' he told AFP. Flemish Brabant provincial governor Lodewijk De Witte said the bodies of 15 men and three women had been recovered. -- AFP
