Two commuter trains crashed head-on near Brussels during this morning's rush hour, killing at least 18 people.
The trains collided in snowy conditions at the village of Buizingen, near Halle, 15km southwest of the Belgian capital, leading to cancellation of services to France and Britain.
Some passengers were still trapped inside one wrecked carriage in freezing temperatures several hours after the disaster, which occurred at around 8.30am (local time).
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it had not been informed of any Irish nationals being in the incident.
The province of Flemish Brabant, which includes the town of Halle, said that the death toll officially stood at 18, 15 of the victims men and three women. It is already Belgium's deadliest rail accident since a derailment in 1974 that cost 18 lives.
"The death toll could still rise a little," a provincial official said.
Provincial Governor Lodewijk De Witte told a news conference that one of the trains, a local service from Leuven, had continued past a red light and ploughed into an express train bound for Liege running some 10 minutes late.
Train operator SNCB said it was too early to speculate about the cause of the accident. It said 250 to 300 people were travelling in the two trains at the time.
The two trains were crushed against each other, their fronts suspended in the air. Overhead power lines were severely damaged. The injured were taken to 14 separate hospitals in and around Brussels.
"The first two carriages were completely squashed," said 37-year-old Hambaoui Mounir. "I was in the carriage right behind. The train fell to one side, people fell over each other, there was no air and women and children were screaming."
Prime minister Yves Leterme, breaking short a visit to the Balkans, said he was stunned by the accident, coming just less than three weeks after a gas explosion at a residential block in Liege that killed 14 people.
A wide range of train services, including high-speed services from Brussels to Paris and the Eurostar from Brussels to Britain via the Channel Tunnel, were suspended for the day.
Reuters