Two trains collided head-on just outside Amsterdam on Saturday, injuring at least 60 people, up to 20 of them seriously, Dutch transport police said.
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Police and other rescuers search victims at the accident site of trains collision in the west side of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Saturday. (Xinhua-Yonhap News) |
"There are 60 people injured -- some 15 to 20 badly," police spokesman Ed Kraszewski told AFP, after the crash near Sloterdijk in the western suburbs of Amsterdam, but he added "I can't give exact figures."
A spokeswoman for the Dutch capital's fire service put the number of seriously injured at 56, adding "tens of others were slightly wounded."
The accident happened at around 6.30 p.m. when a local train leaving Amsterdam hit a high-speed train, Dutch rail network Prorail spokeswoman Babet Verstappen told AFP.
But both trains were travelling relatively slowly at the time, Dutch NOS television reported: each moving at around 50 kilometers-an-hour.
One had just left Amsterdam central station; the other Amsterdam Sloterdijk.
Witnesses quoted by the Dutch media television said the impact had not been violent.
Emergency personnel treated some of the wounded at the scene, on a bridge between Sloterdijk and Amsterdam Central Station, Verstappen added.
The worst injured were taken to hospitals, while less seriously hurt passengers were booked into hotels in the city, she added.
Many of the injured suffered from broken bones and bruising, Dutch news agency ANP reported.
It cited witnesses who described how travelers had been thrown about inside the carriages or up against their windows, some of which had shattered.
Witnesses said they heard a long hoot from one of the trains before the crash.
Passengers on the social network Twitter said they were "smashed against the trains' frames" or "thrown from their seats", ANP added.
Pictures from the scene showed the crushed front ends of both the trains and smashed windows in some of the carriages.
"Some of the injured had to be rescued from inside the train," added Amsterdam fire service spokeswoman Elke van den Hout.
By late Saturday evening, all the injured had been rescued from the trains, which remained on the tracks, railway police spokesman Kraszewski said.
The cause of the accident remained unknown, but police have launched an investigation, he added.
The crash has shut down rail traffic in the west of the city, including Amsterdam Central station and the service to Schiphol airport, Prorail's Verstappen said.
Bus services were being laid on to try to get passengers to their destinations.
The Netherlands' worst train disaster happened on January 8, 1962, when two passenger trains smashed into one another at Harmelen, near the central Dutch city of Utrecht, killing 93 and injuring 52 others.
Earlier this year, a monument was unveiled to mark the 50-year anniversary of the accident which happened in thick fog when a train driver missed a warning signal and the two trains also crashed head-on. (AFP)
<관련 한글 기사>
열차 두 대 정면 충돌! 100명 넘게 다쳐
네덜란드 암스테르담 의 한 열차역 인근에서 21일 오후 6시30분(한국시간 22일 오전 1시30분)께 여객열차 2대가 정면 충돌, 최대 125명가량이 부상했다고 경찰과 철도 관계자들이 말했다.
사망자가 있는지는 즉각 알려지지 않고 있지만 부상자 가운데 13명이 치명상을 입었고 최대 44명은 중상, 약 70명이 경미한 상처를 입었다고 로이터 통신이 전했다.
두대 중 열차는 덴헬테르와 나이메헨 간을 운행하는 것이고 다른 열차는 암스테 르담과 우이트지스트를 연결하는 열차로, 사고가 난 뒤 응급용 헬기가 투입돼 일부 부상자들을 병원으로 후송했고 다른 많은 부상자들이 수십대의 엠뷸런스로 옮겨졌다.
dpa통신은 현지 철도 당국을 인용, 고속열차 한 대와 2층 여객열차 한 대가 암스테르담의 슬로테르뎨크역 부근에서 정면 충돌해 13명이 치명상을 입은 것을 비롯, 최소한 56명이 중상이라고 전했다.
이 사고로 암스테르담의 중앙 역과 스히폴공항에 이르는 교통이 마비되기도 했다.
사고 원인은 즉각 알려지지 않고 있다.
열차 중 전복된 차량은 없으며 외관상 비교적 피해를 크지 않은 것으로 보였다고 dpa가 현지 언론을 인용해 전했다. (연합뉴스)
