On Feb. 15, 2010, one of the deadliest train crashes of the decade killed 18 passengers and injured 125 others. The train collided during rush-hour traffic and it left the train in critical condition. The trains were carrying a total of 300 passengers and the two drivers were instantly killed in the collision. King Albert of Belgium was one of the few that was on the scene of the crash in Buizingen, which is nine miles south of Brussels. The crash had interrupted a holiday in France. The Prime Minister, Yves Leterme, who cut short a visit to Kosovo to return to his home, accompanied King Albert. There was no official reason for the crash but there is speculation that one of the two commuter trains ran a red light at about 8:30am and crashed head on with the other train using the same track. Investigators noticed that the impact left the front end of the train rearing up from the tracks. One of the front cars appeared to have careened across the tracks, demolishing a tiny shed next to the rail line. The Eurostar service had to cancel all scheduled trains for a week so that the work crews could clean up the tracks.

According to the crisis headquarters, they have confirmed that there were 15 males and three females amongst the casualties. Emergency services cordoned off the area around of the crash and rescuers carried away the injured and dead in sub-zero temperatures. It is unclear whether or not icy rails played a role in the collision. The firm Infrabel, that runs the Belgium railway infrastructure said, “the line had a safety system that stops a train that goes through a red light.”