Several people were killed on Tuesday after a train collided with a school minibus at a railway crossing in northern Belgium, authorities said.
The crash happened in the village of Buggenhout at about 8:08 a.m. local time. Officials said the minibus, carrying seven children, a supervisor and the driver, was struck by a train approaching a nearby station.
Emergency responders rushed to the scene as Belgian media broadcast images of the wrecked minibus overturned beside the railway tracks, with rescue tents erected nearby.
Police have not confirmed the exact number of casualties, but described the incident as severe.
“The impact was extremely violent,” police spokesman Frederic Sacre said, adding that the toll was “dramatic.”
According to officials, the train was scheduled to stop at the next station, located about one kilometre from the crossing where the collision occurred.
Belgium’s Interior Minister, Bernard Quintin, expressed condolences in a post on X.
“My thoughts go out to the victims and their loved ones,” he wrote, while also wishing those injured “much strength.”
Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the crash.
