Collision in Belgium: four dead, including two children, “barriers down”… what we know about the school bus hit by a train

A “dramatic assessment”. Four people, including two children, were killed in the collision between a school bus carrying children and a train in northern Belgium, authorities say.

Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin, deploring a “tragic accident”, reported this morning on X of several victims without further details on their state of health.

What happened?

The accident took place in Buggenhout, in Flanders, at “a level crossing”, Frédéric Sacré, spokesperson for Infrabel, manager of the Belgian rail network, told AFP.

“It happened around 8:08 a.m. A minibus was hit by a train which was supposed to stop at the next station, which was about a kilometer away,” he said. “The shock was excessively violent,” he assured, reporting a “dramatic toll”.

“The images show that the barriers were down and the traffic lights were red. We therefore do not know how the accident could have happened,” said Thomas Baeken, also spokesperson for Infrabel, to Flemish public television VRT.

Who are the victims?

Four people, including two children, were killed in the collision, said Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prévot.

Federal police spokesperson An Berger told VRT that seven schoolchildren, the driver and an attendant were on board the school bus.

Political reactions

“My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones. I wish a lot of courage to the injured,” reacted Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin this morning.

On X, the Minister of Justice of Belgium, Annelies Verlinden, addressed “ ses sincere condolences to the victims and their loved ones”, specifying that “the prosecution is obviously following this accident very closely”.

“Europe mourns with Belgium,” declared the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday. “I was heartbroken to learn of the tragic accident between a train and a school bus in Buggenhout today. My deepest condolences go to the families of the victims and their loved ones,” she wrote on the social network X.