Danish Queen Margrethe II said that she was “deeply affected’’ by the train accident that killed six and wounded 16 on the Great Belt Bridge on Wednesday.
“This morning’s terrible train accident on the Great Belt Bridge touches me deeply,’’ said the Queen on the royal family’s website.
“My thoughts and my deepest compassion go to the survivors and their families as well as to the injured,’’ she said.
In addition to the Queen, a large number of the country’s politicians have commented on the accident, including Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.
“Ordinary Danes on their way to work or home from Christmas holidays have broken their lives. It’s deeply unhappy,’’ Lokke said in a press release.
Six people died and 16 were injured when a carriage from a freight train derailed and collided with a passenger train on the Great Belt Bridge just outside the central Danish island of Fyn.
All the victims were passengers on the commuter train going from the city of Odense, on the central Danish island of Fyn, to the capital city of Copenhagen.
The local hospital in Odense has launched a crisis response and an evacuation centre has been set up at the west end of the bridge, Ritzau reported.
Danish Police said at a press conference that the police could not disclose more about the nationality or age of the deceased.
Danish news agency Ritzau reported that the 16 injured people are believed to be out of danger.
Danish train company DBS writes that they are taking the accident “extremely seriously.’’
“We are deeply concerned both about the fatalities and the several injured.
“Our thoughts go to the relatives and we are doing everything practically possible to assist the customers and their relatives,’’ said DSB’s CEO Flemming Jensen in a press release.
Danish company Carlsberg received confirmation that the freight train involved in the accident was carrying Carlsberg goods, among other things. “We are deeply concerned by the accident,’’ wrote Carlsberg on the company’s website.
The bridge has reopened for car traffic, but rail traffic will remain stopped for the rest of the day.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven of the neighbouring Sweden expressed his condolences on Denmark’s train accident.
“Our thoughts are with the injured and with the families and relatives of the deceased,’’ Lofven said on Twitter. “This morning I extended the same message to my colleague Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.’’ (Xinhua/NAN)
