After the devastating train accident near The Hague in the Netherlands, investigations into the cause of the accident are underway. The public prosecutor’s office got involved, said a police spokeswoman in Voorschoten on Tuesday. In the early morning, a freight train and an Intercity had probably crashed into a construction crane on the busy route.
At least one person died in the serious train accident in the Netherlands and around 30 people were injured. A spokeswoman for the fire brigade said on Tuesday on the radio that 19 people had been taken to the hospital. Nothing was initially said about her condition. Around ten passengers were picked up by local residents.
According to the railway, 50 to 60 passengers were on the night train on the way from Amsterdam to The Hague when the accident happened.
The head of the operator of the rail network “ProRail”, John Voppen, spoke of a “black day for the railways”. According to him, maintenance work was being carried out on the route at the time of the accident. Work had been done on two of the four tracks. It is unclear where the construction crane was at the time of the accident.
“There were some serious injuries,” said Hans Zuidijk, head of the regional security agency. 19 people were taken to hospitals. The dead man is therefore a man who had been involved in the construction work on the route.
In his first reaction, Prime Minister Mark Rutte spoke of a “terrible train accident”. “My thoughts are with the relatives and with all the victims. I wish them a lot of strength,” he wrote on Twitter.
The accident happened around 3:25 a.m. on the route from Leiden to The Hague near Voorschoten. According to eyewitnesses, a freight train and a double-decker Intercity crashed into a construction crane. According to the ANP news agency, the front carriage of the passenger train derailed and crashed into a field. Other wagons overturned, the rear part of the night train is said to have caught fire, which was later extinguished, it said. The freight train is said to have derailed.
Most passengers were able to disembark the train themselves. “There was a heavy blow, windows shattered,” reported a passenger on the radio. The carriage in which the student was sitting had tipped over. He was able to free himself quickly.
The emergency services were quickly on the spot. Some passengers were also taken in by local residents, eyewitnesses said.
The chaos at the scene of the accident and on the railway line is great, reporters report. It is a very busy route from Amsterdam to The Hague. Traffic between Leiden and The Hague has been disrupted.
Traffic between Amsterdam and The Hague was suspended because of the accident.
Sources: Reuters, with footage from AFP and DPA
