* Police say 125 injured, 13 very badly injured
* Crash disrupts airport rail traffic
* Witness says saw people with head wounds, limping
(Updates with higher number of injured)
AMSTERDAM, April 21 (Reuters) – Almost 125 people were
injured, many seriously, when two Dutch commuter trains crashed
head-on in Amsterdam on Saturday, police said.
There were no immediate reports of fatalities, but of those
injured, 13 suffered major injuries while 43 or 44 were badly
injured, a spokesman said. About 70 suffered minor injuries.
A trauma helicopter was used to bring the injured to
hospital, a spokesman for railways group NS said.
The trains did not serve Schiphol international airport, the
NS spokesman added, but the accident disrupted airport train
service.
Some people were lifted from the wreckage by cranes while
others were led away from the crash site in protective wraps to
dozens of waiting ambulances, while police cars and fire trucks
stood by.
“We heard a loud bang. I went outside and saw people on the
street in panic,” a woman at the scene told broadcaster AT5.
“We then saw what had happened. Quite quickly there were
emergency services at the scene. It was managed well. Some
people had head wounds, others were limping.”
One of the trains involved in the crash serves the cities of
Den Helder and Nijmegen, while the other runs between Amsterdam
and Uitgeest, the railways spokesman said.
Netherlands public broadcaster NOS aired video footage
showing two trains that had collided.
(Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger, additional reporting by Sara
Webb; Editing by Michael Roddy)
