‘Lightning strike caused signal failure’ before express smashed into the back of goods wagons on the same track
Three dead and dozens hurt as front carriage 'scrunched back on itself' by high-speed impact
A LIGHTNING strike may have caused signals to fail before a passenger train smashed into the back of a freight train travelling on the same line early today - killing at least three people and injuring dozens more.
Shocking images from the scene show how the mangled front carriage "scrunched back on itself" by the violent impact. Two cars were derailed and on their sides.
Around 40 were on board the late night service when it ploughed into goods wagons near the town of Hermalle-sous-Huy in eastern Belgium shortly after midnight UK time.
Three people including the driver died and nine were seriously injured. Another 27 were treated at the scene.
Authorities said some victims were trapped in the wreckage for three hours it was a "miracle" more were not killed.
As investigators began probing the fatal crash, a railway company official revealed installations had been hit by lightning hours earlier.
Frederic Sacre, a spokesman for infrastructure company Infrabel, said: "It's an element we're going to have to look at, but it's premature to see this as the cause of the accident.
"Prosecutors are at the scene, so we're not able to have access until their work is done."
The Twitter account of national rail operator SNCB reported "a signals disruption" yesterday on the rail line about an hour and a half before the wreck, but said the problem had been solved and normal train service restored.
The passenger train was travelling between Mouscron and Liers on the main line from from Namur in the west to Leige in the east.
It hit the other train at 55mph, rail official said. Witnesses say the smash has completely destroyed the two trains, and emergency services have been drafted in from the surrounding area to help the injured.
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Local mayor Francis Dejon said: "The passenger train is really in a bad way.
"The front carriage is scrunched back up on itself. We were very lucky not to have more victims."
As rescuers continued to comb through the wreckage, family members began arriving at the accident scene to search for loved ones and were offered accommodation in a nearby abbey.
Many of those on board were believed to be students returning to classes after the weekend.
One survivor described the scene as "chaos" to the local daily newspaper L'Avenir, saying that the front two carriages had been destroyed.
Prosecutors are investigating how the trains came to be on the same line and why the express driver was not able to stop. Rail officials said they are cooperating with the probe.
"The priority is to care for the victims," said a joint statement from national rail operator SNCB and infrastructure company Infrabel.
In February 2010, 18 people were killed and 95 injured when two trains collided in a Brussels suburb in one of Europe's deadliest railway accidents of the past decade.
More recently, one person was killed and nearly 50 injured when a train carrying highly toxic chemicals derailed and exploded near the city of Ghent in May 2013.
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