A train derailed near The Hague in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Dutch emergency services said, sending two carriages into a field adjacent to the railway. One person was killed and about 30 passengers were injured, many of them seriously.
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.
The four-carriage passenger train was carrying about 50 passengers at the time of the accident.
A freight train was also stopped on rails near the wreckage of a passenger train near the Leiden-Hague railway.
The exact cause of the accident, which occurred around 3:25 am (0125 GMT) in the town ForshotenNear The Hague was not immediately clear.
NS Railway said in a statement that a passenger train, a freight train and a construction crane had been 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 of emergency services said 11 of the injured were treated in homes close to the line and the rest were taken in a fleet of ambulances to hospitals, including a “disaster hospital” that opened in the city center of Utrecht.
The local fire brigade tweeted after the accident, saying that the accident appeared to be a collision between a passenger train and “building materials”.
“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.
A small fire broke out at the rear of the train but was quickly put out, Ingrid De Ros, a spokeswoman for the local fire services, told the WNL news program.
John Vauben, chief executive of Pro Rail, described the incident as a “black day for Dutch railways” and said the cause was under investigation.
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Corder reported from The Hague.