Four people were killed in a collision between a train and a school minivan in the Belgian town of Buggenhout on Tuesday morning.
The accident occurred at about 8am at a level-crossing about 1km from Buggenhout station, about 23km from Brussels.
Two teenagers with special needs were among those killed, authorities said. The driver and an adult accompanying the pupils also died, while two pupils were badly injured.
Images in Belgian media showed a white minivan lying on its side near the track, its front badly crumpled.
Transport Minister Jean-Luc Crucke said security camera footage showed the crossing's safety barriers had come down.
"Today, Europe grieves with Belgium," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X.
Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said in a post on X that “it is with deep sadness that I learnt of the tragic accident that occurred in Buggenhout”. He did not provide further details.
Police said nine people were in the minibus.
The van was carrying seven pupils with special needs and a chaperone to their school, Belgian federal police representative An Berger said.
“Footage shows that the barriers were down and the traffic lights were red. We do not know how the accident could have happened,” Thomas Baeken of Belgian track operator Infrabel told news channel VRT.
RTL quoted an Infrabel spokesperson saying that the train driver had applied the emergency brakes but that "the shock was extremely violent."
Belgium, where a dense railway network criss-crosses towns and villages, has a history of accidents at level-crossings.
At least five people died in such accidents in 2025, railway infrastructure operator Infrabel says on its website. That is the lowest number recorded since 2020.
