Dutch Rail Crash: One Dead, 30 Injured After Train Derails

A general view shows rescue operations underway following the derailment of a passenger train after it hit construction equipment on the track, in Voorschoten, Netherlands April 4, 2023 in this picture obtained from social media. Kyrlian De Bot/via REUTERS . Reuters

At least one person was killed and 30 injured, many seriously, when a passenger train carrying at least 50 people derailed in the Netherlands early on Tuesday after hitting a construction crane, officials said.

Rescue teams ferried away the injured in pre-dawn darkness at the scene of the incident in Voorschoten, a village near The Hague. The accident happened around 3:25 a.m. (0125 GMT), emergency services said.

Nineteen people were taken to hospital. Others were being treated on the spot, the emergency services said.

Dutch Railways official Carola Belderbos said the train collided with the crane and the injured included the driver and two conductors.

The front carriage of the night train from Leiden city to The Hague then derailed and ploughed into a field, emergency services said. The second carriage was on its side and a fire broke out in the rear carriage but was extinguished.

Earlier reports said the passenger train had collided with a freight train. Dutch Railways spokesperson Erik Kroeze said a freight train carrying chalk was involved in the accident but could not give further details.

Jeroen Wienen of Prorail, which maintains the rails, said the freight train had also hit the crane. Several investigations had been initiated, including by the company itself, the police and the Dutch Safety Board, which looks into serious accidents.

"Fortunately enough this is a very, very unique accident, but it's a horrible accident," Wienen told Reuters at the site of the accident.

"Our priority now is to find out what happened and how this could have happened and how we can make sure this does not happen again," he said, adding: "everybody's really shaken up."

Dutch Railways said that local trains between Leiden and parts of The Hague - one of the busiest routes in the Netherlands - were cancelled for the rest of the day due to the accident.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte and the Netherlands' royal family were among those who expressed their sympathy for the victims.

"My thoughts are with the relatives and with all the victims. I wish them all the best," Rutte said in a tweet.

"We deeply sympathize with all of them," King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima said.