One dead and 30 injured as double-decker passenger train ploughs into construction equipment and derails in the Netherlands

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At least one person has been killed and 30 injured, many seriously, after a high-speed passenger train today ploughed into heavy construction equipment and derailed in the Netherlands.

Rescue teams were seen ferrying away the injured in pre-dawn darkness at the scene of the accident at Voorschoten, a village near The Hague. The accident happened around 3.25am local time (1.25am GMT), the emergency services said.

The double-decker train was travelling between Amsterdam and The Hague and was carrying around 60 people when it derailed. 

At least 19 people with serious injuries were taken to hospital in ambulances while others were treated at the scene, a fire department spokesperson said, adding that 11 injured people were being looked after at the homes of nearby residents. 

'One person has died and at least 30 people have been injured. The seriously injured are being taken to hospital, while 11 are at homes of nearby residents,' Hollands Midden emergency services said. 'Specialists are working to secure the train.'

At least one person has been killed and 30 injured, many seriously, after a high-speed passenger train today ploughed into heavy construction equipment and derailed in the Netherlands

An aerial view of the derailed train in Voorschoten shows the scale of the crash this morning

The devastating accident happened around 3:25am local time this morning, the emergency services said

Emergency services at the site of the derailed train in Voorschoten

The double decker train was travelling between Amsterdam and The Hague and was carrying around 60 people when it derailed

Rescue teams were seen ferrying away the injured in pre-dawn darkness at the scene of the accident at Voorschoten, a village near The Hague

The front carriage of the night train from the city of Leiden to The Hague derailed and ploughed into a field after the accident, while a second carriage flipped on its side.

One carriage was suspended over a small ditch with water and a third carriage remained upright, while a fourth caught fire, the ANP news agency said.

Several ambulances and a helicopter were deployed to take seriously injured passengers to hospital.

'We heard a loud bang and suddenly the lights went out,' a passenger told the local Omroep West television news.

'We couldn't initially get out of the train because there was no electricity. Eventually we got after what felt like hours,' the man said.

The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. Dutch media reported that there was a small construction crane on the tracks, but authorities did not immediately confirm that. 

The front carriage of the night train from the city of Leiden to The Hague derailed and ploughed into a field after the accident, while a second carriage flipped on its side

One carriage was suspended over a small ditch with water and a third carriage remained upright, while a fourth caught fire, the ANP news agency said

Rescue operations underway following the derailment of a passenger train after it hit construction equipment on the track, in Voorschoten, Netherlands, on Tuesday

Several ambulances and a helicopter were deployed to take seriously injured passengers to hospital

Services on the busy link, used by trains running from Amsterdam to Brussels and Paris, have been halted and will not resume until the afternoon, rail officials said.

'This is an incredibly tragic accident,' Voorschoten mayor Nadine Stemerdink said. 'We regret there was also a fatality.

'My thoughts go out to all the family and friends of those involved.'

John Voppen, chief executive of the rail network company Pro Rail, called the accident 'a black day for Dutch railways' and said the cause was under investigation. 

A rescue team by the tracks after the train derailed in the early hours of the morning

Voorschoten mayor Nadine Stemerdink described the shocking incident as 'an incredibly tragic incident'

John Voppen, chief executive of the rail network company Pro Rail, called the accident 'a black day for Dutch railways'

One passenger said it 'felt like hours' before they could get out

One train carriage ended up suspended over a small ditch filled with water following the crash

The Netherlands' worst train disaster happened on January 8, 1962, when two passenger trains crashed at Harmelen, near the central city of Utrecht, killing 93 people and injuring 52 others.

That accident occurred in thick fog when a train driver missed a warning signal and the two trains hit head-on.

One person was killed and six others were injured when a train collided with a hydraulic crane in central Netherlands in 2016.

In a collision near Amsterdam in April 2012, one person died and 117 others were injured with reports later saying a driver failed to respect a stop sign.