On Tuesday, one person died, and at least 30 others were injured after a Dutch passenger train and a freight train collided with a construction crane on the tracks near Voorschoten village, between Amsterdam and The Hague.
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The accident happened around 3:25 a.m. when the State-owned ProRail organization worked on the tracks, two of which remained closed for repairs.
The passenger train, which was carrying about 60 people, derailed after hitting the crane. The front carriage landed on a field while a second carriage flipped. One carriage was suspended over a small ditch with water. A fourth carriage caught fire.
Among the injured are the train driver, who broke several bones, and two conductors, who suffered minor injuries. Several ambulances and a helicopter took injured passengers to hospitals.
The Dutch Safety Board is investigating the cause of this accident, one of the worst train disasters in the Netherlands since 1962 when two passenger trains crashed at Harmelen City.
In that accident, which occurred after a train driver missed a warning signal, 93 people died, and 52 others were injured. “Tuesday was another black day for the Dutch railway,” ProRail organization Chief Executive Officer (CEO) John Voppen lamented and promised to investigate what happened.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the train collision at Voorschoten village “a terrible accident” and expressed support for the victims and their families. He also thanked the emergency services for their work.