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Belgium train crash: Three killed, nine hurt near Liege | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
At least three people have been killed and nine injured in a train crash in the Belgian town of Hermalle-sous-Huy, near Liege, reports say. | |
A passenger train crashed into the back of a goods train at high speed at about 23:00 (21:00 GMT), said Belgium's rail infrastructure manager, Infrabel. | |
The two trains were on the same track, a spokesman for Infrabel said. | The two trains were on the same track, a spokesman for Infrabel said. |
A local mayor said the passenger train was in a terrible state and it was fortunate there were no more victims. | |
Francis Dejon, major of Saint-Georges-Sur-Meuse province, said the front carriage of the passenger train had completely folded back on itself. | |
The train, with about 40 people on board, was travelling between Liege and Namur at about 90km/h (55mph) when it hit the goods train. | |
"Two of the six carriages derailed and are lying on the tracks," said a statement issued by Infrabel and national rail operator NMBS/SNCB. | |
Some of those injured had to be freed from the wreckage and are in critical condition, officials say. | |
'Lightning strike' | |
Prime Minister Charles Michel tweeted his condolences to the families of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery. | |
Infrabel has begun an investigation into the crash. | |
There has been no comment as to why the trains were on the same track. | |
Infrabel said there had been what it called a "lightning incident" on the track earlier on Sunday and a tweet by SNCB had mentioned a signalling fault on the line at 21:30 local time on Sunday, although it said this had been cleared and services were normal. | |
"The investigation into the cause of the rail crash is fully under way. The lightning strike is a possible line of inquiry, but there are still safety systems which are supposed to come into place," spokesman Frederic Petit told public broadcaster VRT. | |
In February 2010, 18 people were killed when two passenger trains collided at Halle, south-west of the capital, Brussels. | |
Two people died and 14 were hurt in May 2013 when a train carrying toxic, flammable chemicals derailed and caused a major fire near the city of Ghent. |