“The passenger train is really in a lamentable state,” Francis Dejon, mayor of the commune of Saint-Georges-sur-Meuse, told a news conference. “We’ve very lucky there weren’t more victims.”
Twenty-seven other passengers were treated as a result of the accident, which authorities said t ook place around 11pm yesterday.
RTL broadcasting said the passenger train was carrying about 40 people when, at a speed of 90kph, it slammed into the freight train at Hermalle-sous-Huy on the banks of the Meuse river near Liege.
Two cars from the passenger train derailed and tumbled onto their side. The first car, Mr Dejon said, was so badly damaged “it was curled back on itself”.
Belga news agency reported that the collision had been “very violent”, adding that fire and police services had been sent from Liege to the scene, with several passengers having to be extracted from the wreckage. It took rescuers up to three hours to free everyone.
Some of the nine injured people hospitalised were in a critical condition and the number dead could rise, the mayor said. He said prosecutors were at the scene and were investigating the cause of the accident.
“The SNCB will participate closely in the investigation,” Belgium’s national railway operator said in a statement. Its services have been seriously affected by a recent wave of strikes, especially in French-speaking parts of the country.
The circumstances of the accident were not immediately clear, with questions remaining over whether the passenger train was able to brake before the crash occurred.
“The priority is to care for the victims,” Belgian railway infrastructure manager Infrabel and the National Railway Company of Belgium said.
They added that i nformation was already being analysed to determine how the crash took place.
A crisis centre was set up at the scene of the accident.
Family members arriving at the accident scene to search for loved ones were being offered accommodation in a nearby abbey.
The train wreck halted rail services between Namur and Liege, two of Belgium’s largest cities. Nathalie Pierard, an SNCB spokeswoman, said it could take several days to clear the tracks.