Two East Midlands Railway trains collided near the town of Bedford, north of London on Friday evening, in an accident that left one driver dead and dozens of passengers injured, several of them seriously, the Associated Press reported. The trains were headed toward London St Pancras station when the accident took place around 5:15 pm, according to rail tracking data.
Passengers described chaotic scenes inside the carriages after the impact. One traveller said the force of the collision threw people forward and revealed injured passengers suffering from broken bones and bloodied wounds.
Emergency teams mounted a large-scale response, sending multiple units to the site, including an air ambulance and a hazardous incident team from the East of England Ambulance Service.
"We know that a number of people have been injured, and one person has very sadly died,’" AP quoted a police statement. "A major incident has been declared, and officers are continuing to respond at the scene alongside colleagues from Bedfordshire Police and the local Fire and Rescue and Ambulance Services".
The East of England Ambulance Service later reported that the crash left 11 people with critical injuries, while 22 others sustained serious wounds and 56 suffered minor injuries.
Eddie Dempsey, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, confirmed that the person killed in the collision was one of the train drivers.
Images shared on social media appeared to show the front of one train embedded in the rear of another, while the carriages remained largely upright on the tracks.
A passenger aboard one of the trains, doctor Peter Knapp, described a "sudden crash" in a post on Bluesky, saying one carriage had come off the rails and that he suffered minor injuries.
"There was a moment of being flung into the chair in front, and then I saw smoke," Knapp said. "People were crying, screaming. People were so scared and confused".
"I got up, and I saw a lot of people who were unable to speak, had broken legs," he added. "And then I managed to get out of the train, and because I’m quite thin I was able to squeeze out through the gap in the doors".
The East of England Ambulance Service urged people to avoid the area as rescue and recovery operations continued.
British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said she was closely monitoring developments. "I am deeply concerned by reports of the collision," Alexander wrote in a post on X.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed condolences to the family of the victim and said his thoughts were with those seriously injured in the incident.
"My thoughts are with the family of the person who has sadly lost their life, and with those who have been seriously injured," Starmer said in a statement on X.
Meanwhile, East Midlands Railway announced that all services operating to and from St. Pancras station were suspended for the remainder of Friday following the incident. The operator also said it could not yet provide certainty over whether normal train services would resume on Saturday.
Source: Reuters