Buggenhout (Belgium) (AFP) - A train on Tuesday hit a school minibus killing four people, including two children in a “horrific accident” in northern Belgium, authorities said.

The children aged 15 and 12, were killed by the impact alongside the 49-year-old driver and a 27-year-old supervisor, according to Lisa De Wilde, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office.

The other five schoolchildren on the bus were injured in the crash at a railway crossing in Buggenhout, a Dutch-speaking municipality about 25 kilometres (15 miles) northwest of Brussels.

“A tragic collision between a train and a school bus took place in Buggenhout this morning. Four people have been killed, including two children,” Belgium’s deputy prime minister Maxime Prevot wrote on X.

Images from the scene in the Flanders region showed a badly damaged minibus lying on its side on a road next to a railway line, with tents set up by emergency workers around.

The commuter train remained halted on the tracks as forensic teams examined the site.

Prime Minister Bart De Wever posted on social media that he was “deeply moved by the horrific accident… My thoughts go out to the affected families”.

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear and an investigation has been opened, the public prosecutor’s office said.

Belgium’s Infrabel rail agency said footage from the scene showed that the barriers at the crossing had been closed and a red light was showing at the time of the incident.

“The impact was extremely violent,” Infrabel spokesman Frederic Sacre told AFP, adding that the train was travelling at 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour, but had started slowing down as it approached a station.

“The minibus was thrown about 15 metres (50 feet) into a metal pylon,” he said.

- ‘Heartbroken’ -

In total, the vehicle was carrying seven pupils from a school for children with learning disabilities, authorities told a press conference.

The other five children on board were taken to a local hospital where they remained in stable conditions, having sustained severe injuries, prosecutors said.

Their lives were not in danger, added police spokeswoman An Berger.

“I can’t imagine what the parents are going through,” Magda, a woman in her 40s whose son was at the station waiting for the train involved in the crash when the collision occurred, told AFP.

No one on the train was hurt.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen joined in the stream of commiserations from politicians, saying she was “heartbroken” by the collision.

“My deepest condolences go out to the victims’ families and their loved ones,” she posted online.

“Today, Europe grieves with Belgium.”