'Black box' found in wreckage after Belgian train disaster

SEARCH teams have found one "black box" amid the wreckage of two trains that collided near Brussels, killing 18 people and injuring more than 170.

One driver survived the crash, but has serious injuries and was not well enough to be questioned, railway officials said yesterday.

The Eurostar and Thalys high-speed trains from London and Paris to Brussels said they were suspending services for a third day today and other train drivers held a wildcat strike today that left thousands of commuters without their usual transport.

Rescue workers yesterday continued to search the wreckage of the two commuter trains that crashed on Monday, in one of the deadliest rail accidents in Belgian history. Officials raised the number of people injured from 95 to 171, some seriously hurt.

European Commission officials said the rail track near Buizingen station where the crash took place, nine miles south of Brussels, lacked the latest automatic braking system designed to stop trains after they pass a red signal.

Lodewijk De Witte, governor of Flemish Brabant province, had said earlier that one train apparently did not heed a red signal as the second train – leaving ten minutes late from Buizingen – moved into its path on the same track.

National Railways spokesman Jochen Goovaerts said the accident was a lateral collision, contradicting initial reports that the trains crashed head-on. One train was apparently diverting to another track when it was hit by the second.

The search continued for the second data recorder that could help determine whether mechanical failure, human error, freezing weather or another factor was primarily responsible for the crash. They should also reveal how fast the trains were moving when they collided, said Mr Goovaerts.

"There are a lot of possible explanations to this tragedy," he said. "We don't want to put the blame where it doesn't belong."

The accident scene was sealed off yesterday. One carriage from each train was tipped on to its side, and it was not known whether more bodies were trapped underneath.

Infrabel, the rail management company, said its technical teams would need three days to inspect six rail lines once the wreckage is removed, meaning train traffic was likely to remain disrupted for the rest of the week.

Meanwhile, a wildcat strike by about half of Belgium's train drivers paralysed much of the traffic in the southern part of the country and caused cancellations and delays in the north.

"It was an emotional reaction to the catastrophe of yesterday," Mr Goovaerts said, explaining that many railway employees were outraged at statements blaming one of the drivers before an investigation was completed.