One dead and several injured: serious train accident in the Netherlands

Status: 04/04/2023 11:29 am

A serious train accident occurred near The Hague early in the morning. At least one person was killed and 19 others were seriously injured. How the accident happened is still unclear.

At least one person died in a serious train accident in the west of the Netherlands. About 30 other people were injured, 19 of them seriously, the emergency services said.

In his first reaction, Prime Minister Mark Rutte spoke of a “terrible train accident”. “My thoughts are with the relatives and with all the victims. I wish them a lot of strength,” he wrote on Twitter.

Intercity and freight train crashed into construction crane

Around 3.25 a.m., according to a spokesman for the railways, an Intercity and a freight train crashed into a construction crane near Voorschoten, about 15 kilometers from The Hague. According to the railway, 50 to 60 passengers were on the night train on the way from Amsterdam to The Hague when the accident happened. The operator of the “ProRail” rail network was initially unable to say anything about the exact cause.

According to eyewitnesses, the Intercity crashed into a meadow, and at least two wagons overturned. The freight train is said to have derailed. Most passengers were able to disembark the train themselves.

Chaos at the scene of the accident – train traffic interrupted

“There was a heavy blow, windows shattered,” reported a passenger on the radio. The carriage in which the student was sitting had tipped over. He was able to free himself quickly.

The emergency services were quickly on the spot. Some passengers were also taken in by local residents, eyewitnesses said. The chaos at the scene of the accident and on the railway line was great, reporters said. The route is very busy.

Royal couple: “We feel very much for all of them”

The Dutch royal couple also expressed their condolences to those affected by the train accident. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima announced on social media that their thoughts were with the victims and their families: “Many are now feeling fear and insecurity. We feel very much for all of them.”

“This is a black day for the railways in the Netherlands,” said the spokesman for the route operator “ProRail”. “We will now examine very closely how this could have happened.”

“ProRail” has now announced that two of the four tracks on the route section were closed due to construction work. Whether the train was traveling on the wrong track remains speculation for the time being. No trains are expected to run between Leiden and The Hague until the afternoon.

With information from Ludger Kazmierczak, ARD Studio Den Haag