A train driver has died after his high-speed passenger train collided with a lorry carrying military equipment at a level crossing in France.
A number of injuries have also been reported following the incident, which took place on Tuesday morning between Béthune and Lens in the north-western Pas-de-Calais region.
Two people were critically injured while 11 others sustained minor injuries, French media reports.
The region's President Xavier Bertrand confirmed the death of the TGV driver and described the accident as a terrible tragedy. My thoughts are with his family, his loved ones and all the staff at who are mourning his loss, he wrote on X.
French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said he was heading to the scene along with the head of France's state-owned rail operator SNCF.
Tabarot said the collision involved a heavy goods vehicle, while news site Franceinfo reported that it was a truck that had been transporting military equipment.
It said the incident occurred shortly before 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT), citing a local official. The train had been travelling from Dunkirk to Paris.
The regional rail network, TER Hauts-de-France, said traffic between Béthune and Lens would be disrupted until mid-morning, with services on certain lines resuming gradually.
The BBC has contacted SNCF for comment. SNCF Chief Executive Officer Jean Castex, who served as France's prime minister between July 2020 and May 2022, has yet to publicly comment.
Rail union SUD-Rail has called for total transparency regarding the incident. The incident comes less than a fortnight after a person died in the south-eastern Var region following a collision between a regional train and a truck.
Collisions at level crossings in France are relatively rare - but much more common than in the UK. There were 89 incidents recorded in France in 2024, causing 20 deaths, compared to six in the UK, official figures show. More than 100 collisions were recorded each year in France in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
