4 dead, including 2 children, in Belgium train-minibus crash

A train hit a school minibus at a closed railway crossing in Buggenhout, East Flanders, killing four people, including two children, and injuring five more children in one of Belgium’s worst rail crashes. The collision at the Vierhuizen level crossing exposed the central question now facing investigators: why a vehicle carrying children was still on the tracks when the barriers were down and the red light was on.

The minibus was carrying nine people, a driver, an attendant and seven children, most of them secondary-school age, when it was struck during the morning rush hour near Buggenhout, about 30 kilometers northwest of Brussels. The train was estimated to be traveling at about 120 kph as it approached the crossing, and a security camera showed the minibus still moving at the moment of impact. Infrabel said the crossing was functioning correctly, while the train driver applied the emergency brake but could not stop in time.

The dead included the 49-year-old driver, a 27-year-old attendant and two children aged 12 and 15. Five other children were hurt, and emergency workers had to move the van after the collision. The children were being transported to Richtpunt Campus Buggenhout, a school for special-needs children, making the crash especially painful for families already relying on organized transport to get their children to class safely.

The wreck has already pushed the focus beyond the immediate loss and toward the system meant to prevent it. If the barrier was lowered and the signal was red, investigators will need to examine whether the failure lay in driver judgment, visibility, road design or how school transport is routed through railway intersections. Local officials called it the worst accident ever at a Belgian level crossing, and the country’s railway network, dense with road crossings, is likely to face renewed pressure for stronger protection where children are regularly transported.

Buggenhout’s local council opened a helpline at 0800 99 110 for questions about the accident as the town entered mourning. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prévot, mobility minister Jean-Luc Crucke and interior minister Bernard Quintin all expressed condolences, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also sent sympathy to the families. The crash has become a grim test of whether Belgium and the wider European transport system can do more to protect school traffic at rail crossings before another routine journey turns fatal.