One person has died and a child has been left with life-threatening injuries after a train struck a car at a level crossing in Lancashire. According to the reports, British Transport Police said they were called to the scene following reports at around 08:50 in the morning that a train had collided with a car at the crossing, with emergency teams rushing to respond.
According to the coverage, the train hit the car that was on the level crossing and then pushed it down the track for some distance. Two people had been inside the vehicle at the time of the collision, and the force of the impact left a scene that emergency services and investigators have been working to make safe and understand.
The casualties were both people who had been in the car. The ambulance service said an adult died at the scene, understood to be the driver of the vehicle. The second occupant, a child, was taken to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool with life-threatening injuries, leaving the incident overshadowed by fears for the young patient as treatment continued.
Passengers on the train itself escaped harm. According to the report, there have been no other injuries reported from the passengers who were on board the train at the time it struck the car, with the casualties confined to the two people who had been inside the vehicle on the crossing.
The level crossing is the type fitted with barriers on each side that come down to block traffic on the road and stop vehicles coming through. Investigators have said it is not yet known what the situation was with the barriers at the time of the collision, and that this is one of the questions at the centre of the inquiry into how the car came to be on the crossing.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch was reported to be on its way to the scene to carry out preliminary investigations, in what has been described as the second serious incident on the railways within a week. British Transport Police, who led the operation alongside paramedics and the fire service, have appealed for anyone with information about the collision on the 25th of June to come forward as the inquiry continues.