Voorschoten, Netherlands (AP) – A passenger train hit a construction crane and derailed near The Hague in the early hours of Tuesday, sending two carriages into a field next to the tracks. The Dutch emergency services said one person died and 19 were taken to hospital.
The police opened an investigation to see if any crime had been committed. Another independent investigation has been opened to find out the cause of the accident.
Television footage showed people using makeshift bridges and ladders to cross a narrow drainage channel that runs alongside the tracks to reach the stricken train in the dark. Many train cars had their windows blown out. It was not clear if this happened during the accident or while the passengers were trying to escape.
Two bright yellow and blue train cars rested perpendicular to the tracks across the small canal and partly in a field. What appeared to be the front of the train was badly damaged. Other parts of the train were partially derailed.
Video footage from inside the train in the immediate aftermath of the accident showed chaotic scenes as passengers tried to get out of the wreckage in the dark.
The four-carriage passenger train was carrying about 50 passengers at the time of the accident.
John Faubin, CEO of Pro Rail, said the passenger train and freight train collided with a crane that was being used to carry out maintenance work. He said the crane was on tracks that were not being used by train traffic and it is not clear how the trains hit the crane.
“We don’t understand how this could happen,” he told reporters at a news conference.
The identity of the person killed in the accident was not immediately revealed and it was not clear if the person was on the train or part of the maintenance team that was working on the tracks between Leiden and The Hague at the time of the accident. It happened around 3:25 am (0125 GMT) in the town of Forshoten.
NS Railways also said in a statement that a passenger train, a freight train and a construction crane were involved in a collision, but the company gave no further details.
“Like everyone else, I’m full of questions and we want to know exactly what happened,” CEO NS Wouter Koolmees said in a statement. A thorough investigation must be carried out. At the moment, all attention is focused on the well-being of our passengers and colleagues.”
The regional coordinator for emergency services said 11 of the injured were treated in homes close to the line and 19 were transported in a fleet of ambulances to five hospitals, including the “disaster hospital” which opened in the city center of Utrecht.
“A terrible train accident near Voorschoten, in which unfortunately one person died and many people were injured. My thoughts are with the relatives and all the victims. I wish them all the best,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a tweet.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima also expressed their sympathy in a tweet.
Ingrid De Ros, a spokeswoman for the local fire services, told the WNL news program that a small fire broke out in the back of the train but was quickly put out.
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Corder reported from The Hague.
