Four people, including two children aged 12 and 15, have died after a train hit a school bus in northern Belgium.
The crash occurred at a level crossing in the town of Buggenhout in the Flanders region.
Belgian media showed images of a badly damaged minibus lying on its side on a road next to a railway line, with tents set up by emergency workers around.
RTL TV reported, citied Transport Minister Jean-Luc Crucke as saying that the victims included the bus driver and an adult accompanying the pupils,.
Two other people were also severely injured, he added.
Mr Crucke said security cameras showed that the crossing's security barriers had come down at the time of the collision.
A spokesman for the rail network operator Infrabel said the collision happened at a level crossing. It is understood that it happened about 1km from the Buggenhout station.
"The impact was extremely violent," the spokesman said, describing the toll as "dramatic".
"It happened at around 8.08am when a minibus was struck by a train that was due to stop at the next station, which was about a kilometre away," he said.
Belgian interior minister Bernard Quintin wrote on X: "With great dismay, I learnt of the tragic accident in Buggenhout, where a school bus was struck by a train.
"My thoughts go out to the victims and their loved ones. I wish the injured much strength."
Belgium, where a dense railway network criss-crosses towns and villages, has a history of incidents at level-crossings.
Five people died in such incidents in 2025, Infrabel says on its website, the lowest number recorded since 2020.
