This is the moment a French TGV smashed into a tractor-trailer that was stuck on a level crossing, as its helpless owner could do little more than watch in horror.
CCTV footage shows the green vehicle going over the crossing in Béclers, a small Belgian town near the border with France at around 8am on Tuesday.
As it crossed over, the trailer appears to get partially unhitched from the tractor, leaving it partially stranded across the train tracks.
The farmer can be seen anxiously looking at his vehicle, seemingly trying to figure out how to fix the problem, before going to the middle of the track to see how far the train was.
He was then seen running back to his vehicle as the barriers began to close.
CCTV footage shows the green vehicle going over the crossing in Béclers, a small Belgian town near the border with France at around 8am on Tuesday
As it crossed over, the trailer appears to get partially unhitched from the tractor
While one extended the full way down, the other got caught on the trailer
The TGV, travelling from Lille, France, to Brussels, Belgium, crashed into the immobile carrier
While one extended the full way down, the other got caught on the trailer.
The TGV, travelling from Lille, France, to Brussels, Belgium, crashed into the immobile carrier, coming off the rails as the farmer looked on dejectedly.
Dutch media reported that two passengers were injured in the smash, with one said to be in a serious condition.
The other roughly 120 passengers onboard were evacuated, and transported to nearby Tournai.
The crash also severely affected train timetables in the region, with queues forming Brussels’ South Station in the hours after the crash.
France’s TGV, or Train à Grande Vitesse, system is a high-speed rail system goes across all of Paris, but also enters Brussels via the Belgian border and London via the Eurotunnel.
