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02/15/2010

At least 18 people died on Monday morning after two regional trains collided at around 8:30 a.m in Halle, a suburban town near Brussels, Belgium.

Rescue workers had pulled 18 bodies from the wreck by Monday evening, but work was continuing at the accident site, some 15 kilometers southwest of Brussels. Earlier in the day, Belgian national railway officials had told VRT the death toll had been at least 25.

At least 55 people were injured in the accident, officials said on Monday afternoon. Rescue workers took the more lightly injured to a neighboring sport center. Many passengers had to be rescued after they were stuck in train cars as a result of the collision.

SNCB is reporting that the accident occurred near the Halle train station when two trains collided head-on. The accident happened during the peak of rush hour traffic on the line between Mons and Brussels. The line is commonly used by commuters who work in the Belgian capital, which is also the headquarters for the European Union. A third train was also believed to be involved.

At the time of the accident, there was heavy snowfall and icy track conditions. A spokeswoman for SNCB said there had been considerable damage, and television images showed that front cars on both trains had derailed during the collision. The crash also destroyed overhead power lines.

The accident is causing major disruptions on Monday to international rail travel to and from Brussels, including the Thalys TGV service between Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam, which uses the same Mons-Brussels track. At least four Thalys trains were suspended en route to Brussels. Meanwhile, Eurostar reported on its Web site that it has suspended all services to and from Brussels to London through the Channel Tunnel on Monday.

"No Thalys train is moving for the moment," Thalys spokeswoman Patricia Baars told the Associated Press. "It's very hard to know today when services will resume. It appears this was a very severe accident."