Rotterdam train ploughs through barrier before being stopped by whale sculpture
Officials have said no one was left injured by the crash and that the driver had been arrested and is being questioned.
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Your support makes all the difference.A metro train that ploughed through a barrier and nearly fell off its tracks into a body of water was stopped by a whale sculpture.
The train, which serves the area of Spijkenisse, near Rotterdam, is currently suspended around 33 feet above ground at the De Akkers metro station. Emergency services workers are trying to get it down.
Emergency news service Rijnmondveilig.nl said the cause of the crash and how the metro was able to pass through the buffer is being investigated.
The driver was taken to hospital for a check up and is understood to have not been injured.
The website added: “Metro hangs on a work of art at a height of 10 meters. Metro traffic from De Akkers station can still take place today.
“Emergency services are still busy securing the metro train. Given the complexity, this will take some time.”
Images from the site show the windscreen of the train severely smashed and the undercarriage of the train destroyed.
Rotterdam Police Operational Center Unit posted on Twitter that no one had been injured during the incident.
It said: “A metro ran through a stop block. This resulted in significant damage. For the time being no one seems to have been hurt. Police on the spot, other emergency services are on the way.”
Maurice Unck, the director of the RET, Rotterdam’s train service company, described the sight as “bizarre” and added it was “a good thing” the artwork was there to stop the train.
He confirmed the train’s black boxes, which records events during its journeys, are currently being investigated to find out what happened.
Speaking to news website Rijnmond, he added: “It will be quite a task to get rid of the train. A specialised company will do that job. With large machines they can do that, but it will be difficult to get them in the right place."
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