BRUSSELS // Lightning and flood damage may have caused a train crash in eastern Belgium which killed three people died and injured at least nine others on Sunday.
The driver of the passenger train was among the dead. Belgian authorities were exploring the possible role of flooding and lightning which has hit western Europe in the last few days.
The passenger train with about 40 passengers on board was travelling at close to 100kph when it collided with the slow-moving freight train at about 11pm at St Georges-Sur-Meuse on the banks of the river Meuse near Liege in north-eastern Belgium.
The violence of the collision caused the two front carriages of the six-car passenger train to derail and topple. A spokesman for Infrabel, the company that oversees Belgium’s rail infrastructure, said the company would investigate reports of lightning striking installations in the accident area 90 minutes before the crash.
Mayor Francis Dejon described how the front carriage had “scrunched back on itself.” He added: “The passenger train is really in a bad way. We’re very lucky there weren’t more victims.”
It took rescuers up to three hours to free people from the wreckage of the train at Hermalle-sous-Huy while travelling between the city of Mouscron and the village of Liers.
Nine people were taken to hospital, some in critical condition and 27 were treated at the scene but, Mr Dejon said, the death toll could rise.
Clearing the track will take several days, said SNCB, Belgium’s national rail operator. The company confirmed lightning had caused signal problems near the site, but that the incident had been resolved with normal service restored.
Heavy rain had also caused flooding on other train lines on Sunday.
Belgian prime minister Charles Michel was due to visit the scene with Belgium’s King Philippe.
“All my condolences for the families of the victims ... and a fast recovery to the injured,” Mr Michel said on Twitter.
A crash in 2008 took place almost at the same location, in which 42 people were injured. That incident was later blamed on human error and a power failure.
* Associated Press
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Women & Power: A Manifesto
Mary Beard
Profile Books and London Review of Books
Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."
A Cat, A Man, and Two Women
Junichiro Tamizaki
Translated by Paul McCarthy
Daunt Books
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Match info
Who: India v Afghanistan
What: One-off Test match, Bengaluru
When: June 14 to 18
TV: OSN Sports Cricket HD, 8am starts
Online: OSN Play (subscribers only)
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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