LAST UPDATE | 26 May

FOUR PEOPLE HAVE been killed after a train collided with a school bus in Belgium. 

The incident happened shortly after 8am at a level crossing in the town of Buggenhout in East Flanders, around 28km north of Brussels. 

An investigation has been launched into the cause of the crash.

The bus was carrying seven children, a driver and a supervisor at the time of the collision. 

The children aged 15 and 12, were killed by the impact alongside the 49-year-old driver and a 27-year-old supervisor, according to Lisa De Wilde, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office.

The other five schoolchildren on the bus sustained severe injuries and were taken to a local hospital, where they remain in stable conditions. Police spokeswoman An Berger said their lives were not in danger. 

The country’s deputy prime minister Maxime Prevot called the incident “a tragic collision”. 

“Four people have been killed, including two children,” he wrote on X. 

“I would like to thank my colleagues from other countries who have already come forward to express their solidarity, and I naturally join them in offering my condolences to the families of the victims.

“My thoughts are with them, and also with the emergency services who had to deal with this harrowing incident.”

The collision happened at a level crossing. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Berger told Flemish broadcaster VRT News the bus was on its way to a special education school for secondary school students.

She said no one on the train was injured, although one person was being treated for shock.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she was “heartbroken” to learn of the incident.

“My deepest condolences go out to the victims’ families and their loved ones. Today, Europe grieves with Belgium,” she wrote on X. 

A spokesman for the rail network operator Infrabel told AFP the collision happened at around 8.08am (7.08am Irish time). 

“A minibus was struck by a train that was due to stop at the next station, which was about a kilometre away,” spokesman Frederic Sacre said.

He added that the impact was “extremely violent” and described the toll as “dramatic”.

With reporting from © AFP 2026