According to a spokesperson for the Hollands Midden safety region, emergency services are currently removing the injured persons from the train. According to the Dutch news site ‘Regio15’, three mobile medical teams have been alerted and there is ‘code 50’, which means that more than 50 people are expected to be injured.
There were about fifty passengers on board the night train that was derailed around a quarter to four at night and was on its way from Leiden to The Hague early Tuesday morning, an NS spokesman said. Due to a collision, the front part of the train ended up in a meadow, the middle part is lying on its side next to the track and a fire has broken out in the rear part of the train, according to the NS spokesperson. According to a photographer on site, the fire in the rear part of the train has now been extinguished. “The emergency services were quickly on the scene,” said the NS spokesperson, who speaks of a major accident. “Our first concern is for the people on the train, passengers and our colleagues.”
It is still unclear how the train accident happened. The Hollands Midden Safety Region initially reported a collision with a freight train, but later stated that construction equipment on the track may have been the cause of the accident. An NS spokesperson said that a freight train was involved in the incident.
Due to the accident, no trains are running between Leiden Central and The Hague.