By DPA,
Brussels : Twenty people died Monday morning and an unknown number were injured as two passenger trains collided head-on in the Belgian town of Halle, local media reported.
Flemish broadcaster VRT and the Belga news service cited the mayor of Halle as the source of the figures. The mayor’s office could not confirm the report when contacted by DPA.
Earlier, police said that the two commuter trains rammed one another head-on approximately one kilometre from Halle station. Police spoke of several people being “heavily injured”, but were unable to give further details.
One of the trains was travelling from the Flemish town of Leuven, east of Brussels, to Braine-le-Comte, south of the city. The other was travelling from the town of Quievrain, on the French border, to the industrial city of Liege.
The accident shut down two train routes into Brussels from the south and happened during the morning rush hour after overnight snowfall.