Train derails in Netherlands, causing injuries but no deaths

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – A train derailed Friday in the northern Netherlands after colliding with a milk truck, injuring 18 passengers, emergency services said.

Video footage and photos from the scene showed the front carriage of the train off the rails and leaning over a water-filled drainage ditch next to the track. The footage showed firefighters using a ladder to get across the ditch and into the train.

Emergency services said in a statement that 11 of the injured passengers were taken to local hospitals for treatment.

The truck driver, who was slightly injured, was detained for questioning by police investigating the incident. The truck was reportedly using an unguarded rail crossing, which are common in the rural north of the Netherlands.

The train, travelling between the northern city of Groningen and the village of Roodeschool, derailed near the town of Winsum, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) northeast of Amsterdam.

In February, a train driver was killed and seven passengers were injured when a commuter train slammed into a crane as it crossed a set of tracks in the eastern Netherlands.