Danger Ahead! Reports

UK
13 confirmed dead - but toll could rise

Thirteen people have been confirmed dead after the train crash near Selby.

British Transport Police Inspector Ian Griffiths says firefighters are still searching for more casualties in the tangled wreckage of the passenger train.

The train crashed after a Land Rover fell from a trailer on the M62 and onto the line, conflicting with earlier reports.

Inspector Griffiths says that police received the call at 6.19am after reports of an accident on the railway.

"There was a road vehicle on a low-loader on the bridge and for some reason this vehicle parted with the trailer and was struck by a GNER train which carried this forward some distance and then struck a goods train coming the other way."

Mr Griffiths said local police and British Transport Police were first on the scene but that the operation has involved emergency services from surrounding areas. He said that the walking wounded had been taken to a rest centre where they were being looked after and interviewed. The more seriously injured had been taken to hospitals in Goole, Pontefract, Hull, York and Leeds.

Firefighters and paramedics are still on the scene and it has not been confirmed whether any survivors are still trapped. Emergency service workers have been seen taking oxygen into a carriage where it is believed there may still be somebody alive.

Mr Griffiths said the driver of the low-loader is currently being interviewed but the fate of the train drivers is not yet known.

Divisional Officer Brian Bell, of the North Yorkshire Fire Service, says all the injured had now been brought off the train. He said the death toll of 13 could rise once heavy lifting equipment was used to move the carriages.

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