12 killed in Belgium train collision (Third Lead)

BRUSSELS - Twelve people were confirmed dead after two passenger trains collided in the Belgian town of Halle Monday but the toll was expected to rise, according to a local official.

Lodewijk De Witte, the provincial governor of Flemish Brabant, the region in which Halle lies, confirmed to Flemish public broadcaster VRT that 12 passengers were known to have died. Eleven people, including one child, were seriously injured, he said.

“The 12 people have definitely died but the death toll is certain to go up,” De Witte said, adding that rescuers had reported seeing more bodies trapped in at least one carriage.

Some 150 people had been travelling on the two trains. Around 100 escaped unscathed, he said.

Reacting to the crash, the Flemish Red Cross launched an emergency appeal for blood from donors with blood groups ‘O’ and ‘A’.

The Brussels prosecutor’s office said that up to 20 people had died in the crash, which occurred at the height of the morning rush hour on one of the main lines into Brussels and forced the closure of international train departures from the city.

VRT calculated independently that up to 25 passengers could have died. That would make it the worst rail crash in Belgian post-war history.

The accident occurred at around 8.30 am (0100 IST), as a north-bound train heading into Brussels collided almost head-on at a junction with a south-bound commuter train leaving the city.

The impact thrust the front carriages of both trains up into the air, crumpling the following carriages and smashing several of them off the tracks.

Passengers said that they were thrown into the air or into one another at the moment of the crash, with people and baggage tumbled into heaps.

“It was like standing in an earthquake,” a 21-year-old man who did not give his name told DPA.

De Witte said that the accident had probably been caused by one of the trains running through a red light, but that was still a preliminary impression.

The accident caused widespread closures on railway lines leading into Brussels Midi station, the city’s main terminus. International Eurostar and Thalys departures to London were halted, with Thalys services from Paris to Cologne forced to detour around Brussels.

One of the trains was travelling from the Flemish town of Leuven, east of Brussels, to Braine-le-Comte, south of the city. The other was travelling from the town of Quievrain, on the French border, to the industrial city of Liege.

European Union leaders based in Brussels were quick to send their condolences. The presidents of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, both addressed messages to the victims and their families.

The accident happened during the morning rush hour and after an overnight snowfall. Snow continued to fall throughout the morning.