Four children, including three from the same family, have died after a train struck an electric transport wagon in which they were travelling near the eastern Dutch town of Oss, local media have reported.

A fifth child and the woman driving the wagon, known as a bolderkar or Stint, were critically injured. The ANP news agency said the accident happened at about 8.25am on Thursday on a manned level crossing as the woman was taking the children, aged between four and 11, from the before-school daycare centre where she worked to local primary schools.

Witnesses told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper that the barriers on the level crossing had been lowered but that the vehicle – a mode of transport popular with daycare centres in the Netherlands and Belgium for ferrying young children around – passed underneath them and became stranded on the tracks. Some witnesses said the the driver appeared to have lost control and was calling for help as the train approached.(theguardian)…[+]