wocsoM.org

At least 20 people are believed to have been killed in a train crash outside Brussels, the Belgian capital, officials have said.

Two packed commuter trains collided head-on at rush hour near Halle, 15km southwest of Brussels at around 07:30 GMT on Monday.

Neither SNCB, the national railways company, nor Infrabel, the track operator, could confirm the death toll.

"The collision was brutal, the train didn't brake," an unnamed passenger was quoted by RTL TV news website as saying.

"Wagons have been turned over, lots of people are in shock."

Dirk Pieters, mayor of Halle, told Flemish public television VRT that there were "at least 20 dead".

"All the emergency services are there. The most seriously injured are being treated at the scene before being taken to hospital," the mayor added.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash.

Railway authorities said the accident also caused great damage to overhead power lines in the station.