Four people are dead, including two children, following a collision between a train and a schoolbus in the Belgian town of Buggenhout on Tuesday morning.
Belgium’s mobility minister, Jean-Luc Crucke, told Belgian broadcaster RTL that four people died in the crash – two pupils, the driver and the other adult – and two are seriously injured.
“It’s tragic,” he was reported as saying. “My first thoughts are with the victims, but also with those who were injured and their families.”
The crash happened at a level crossing during the morning rush hour near Buggenhout, about 30km (20 miles) northwest of the capital, Brussels.
There were nine people on the schoolbus at the time of the collision, according to Belgian media. They included a driver, an attendant and seven children, mostly of secondary-school age.
The children are understood to have been attending a school for special needs children.
CCTV footage shows a level crossing where the collision took place was shut, according to initial reports in the Belgian media.
Emergency services take images with their smartphones at the site of crash involving a train and schoolbus. Photograph: Dirk Waem/Belga/AFP/Getty Images 
Photograph: Dirk Waem/Belga/AFP/Getty Images
Investigators are questioning witnesses and checking for images from cameras mounted nearby, a spokeswoman said.
“What we do know is that the barrier was closed and the red light was on,” she said.
A spokesperson for Belgian rail operator Infrabel said that the train was estimated to be travelling at about 120km/h as it approached the crossing and had “no time to brake”.
“The impact was extremely violent,” the spokesman, Frederic Sacre, told RTBF public broadcaster.
Belgium’s interior minister, Bernard Quintin, said: “With great dismay, I learned of the tragic accident in Buggenhout, where a schoolbus was struck by a train. My thoughts go out to the victims and their loved ones. I wish the injured much strength,” he said on X.
“What could have been a beautiful spring morning suddenly turned into a pitch-black day,” East Flanders provincial deputy Kurt Moens told news outlet VRT NWS.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on X: “Today, Europe grieves with Belgium.”
– Agencies