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http://www.documentingreality.com/fo...me-line-45276/ Reports from Belgium say at least 20 people have been killed in a head-on collision between two trains outside the capital, Brussels.
Railway officials said the two trains collided during the morning rush hour at Halle, south-west of Brussels.
The local mayor told Belgian media that at least 20 people had been killed in the crash, but railway officials could not confirm the figure.
Belgian media said the trains collided in snowy conditions.
Mayor Dirk Pieters said "the most recent information we have is that 20 people died".
The trains collided in the commuter town around 0830 local time (0730GMT) on Monday.
Television pictures showed the lead carriages of each train pushed into the air leaning against each other.
Witnesses said people were thrown around violently inside the trains with one passenger describing the "carriages compacted together" by the collision.
'Enormous devastation'
Emergency workers said there was considerable damage to the overhead power lines at the station in Buizingen, the district of Halle where the trains crashed.
Belgium's track operator Infrabel said an investigation into the accident was under way.
"The devastation is enormous," said Infrabel spokesman Bram De Saedeleer.
"Officials of the public prosecutor's office are at the scene and will supervise the investigation. Our first concern is for the victims."
Doctors were treating some of the injured at the scene of the crash while others had been taken to nearby hospitals.
Lightly injured passengers were taken to a sports hall for treatment.
Infrabel said one train had been going from Leuven to Braine-le-Comte while the second train had been travelling from Quievrain to Liege.
Rail services between Brussels and the south west of Belgium have been disrupted.
There are no services between Brussels and Tournai or Mons. And Eurostar said its trains to and from Brussels were cancelled until further notice.
There has been no indication of what caused the collision but it comes after a weekend of snow and freezing temperatures across Belgium.
In 2001, eight people were killed and 12 were injured in a head-on collision between commuter trains outside Brussels. It was thought that language difficulties between a Flemish-speaking signalman and a French-speaking colleague were a factor in that crash.
Another accident in 2008 left more than 40 people injured when a passenger train travelling in the wrong direction hit a goods train in central Belgium, AFP news agency said.
