A passenger train derailed in southern England on Thursday, seriously injuring two people and leaving 18 others with cuts and bruises after three carriages overturned, the British Transport Police said.
The Southern Rail train from Victoria Station in London to Eastbourne was carrying about 150 people when it went off the tracks outside the tourist town of Lewes.
A major incident was declared following the derailment on Britain’s hottest day of the year so far, when temperatures reached as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit in London.
Photos on social media showed emergency workers and others standing atop the toppled train in the aftermath of the incident.
Passenger Rob Bradley said the train began rocking as it picked up speed and the carriage he was riding in with his 6-year-old daughter jumped upward. The brakes immediately engaged, he said.
“Everything got thrown forward. My laptop, my AirPods, our bags,” Bradley told the BBC. “The train kind of skidded for quite a while before it stopped and only then when we turned around did we see that the whole back of the train — literally where we were sat — was open and there was smoke and dust pouring into the carriage.”
He could then see the car behind had flipped on its side and slid down an embankment into a lower field.
Bradley said he and his daughter were uninjured, but he could see other passengers from one of the flipped cars with blood on their heads and clothing. Another passenger told him they had been cut when a window shattered.
Aerial footage showed firefighters and paramedics treating passengers in a field next to the train, with several ambulances and three helicopters on the scene.
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Drummond-Smith of British Transport Police said Thursday evening that a “significant emergency service response is ongoing at the scene, but all passengers on the train have now been safely evacuated from the service.”
“Patients have been assessed and treated at the scene, with some transported to local hospitals for further treatment and care,” South East Coast Ambulance Service said, with others “taken to a local community centre, where they are being supported by partner agencies.”
Southern Rail warned of major disruption “until further notice” and advised passengers not to travel, adding that “extensive inspections and recovery work will need to take place before services can resume.”
The cause of the derailment is under investigation, with Britain’s Rail Accident Investigation Branch saying in an X post that it had deployed a team of inspectors to the site “to begin gathering evidence.”
The rail incident is the country’s second in just weeks, with one person killed in June when two trains collided north of London.
Eastbourne MP Josh Babarinde said in a post on social media: “Once this immediate emergency is over, there are some serious questions that must be answered about how this happened, how this situation will be mitigated against from happening again, and how those on board will be compensated for what they have suffered.”
