Three people are now believed to have tragically died after a train derailment in Aberdeenshire, with one person currently unaccounted for, sources said to the PA news agency
Emergency services have been responding to the “extremely serious” incident near Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire after being called to the scene of the incident at around 9.40am on Wednesday.
Footage posted on social media showed smoke billowing above trees surrounding the railway line.
A number of ambulances and emergency helicopters were pictured parked in a nearby field. Rail industry sources told PA that the suspected cause of the incident was a landslip.
Many serious injuries have been reported after the passenger train derailed near Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire as storms have caused a great deal of disruption throughout Scotland.
This comes after weather warnings are in place for large parts of the UK as the country braces for thunderstorms and heavy rain amid the soaring temperatures.
The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has said that it was an “extremely serious incident”, going in to say that there have been further reports of seriously injured people.
Torrential rain, as well as thunderstorms across the country have caused a great deal of flooding and travel disruption across many areas within of central and eastern Scotland.
Ms Sturgeon said the derailment had happened in “a very difficult location for emergency services to access”.
She added: “I know and appreciate that there will be many families who will be anxious if they believe they had relatives who were on that train.
“We will do everything we can to make sure the emergency services are supported, that families are supported.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “I am saddened to learn of the very serious incident in Aberdeenshire and my thoughts are with all of those affected. My thanks to the emergency services at the scene.”
The passenger train consisted of two locomotives, at the front and back of the train, with four carriages that carried the passengers.
It is believed that the front locomotive of the train, as well as three of the passenger carriages have left the railway tracks and are now sitting nearby on an embankment.
British Transport Police has said that its officers had been called to the scene of the major incident at around 09:43.
A few minutes later, the Network Rail Twitter account posted that there had been reports of a landslip at Carmont.
Andrew Haines, the chief executive of Network Rail, is cutting short his family holiday in Italy to fly back into the UK on Wednesday afternoon before then heading to the site of the derailment.
This comes after the UK has been officially tipped into the “largest recession on record”, according to figures that have charted the wide-spread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation’s economy.
Kevin Lindsay, the Scottish organiser for train drivers’ union Aslef, said: “We are aware that this is an extremely serious incident and our thoughts are with everyone involved.”
The RMT union’s Mick Lynch said: “The facts behind this incident will need to be established in due course, but at this stage we are focussed on support and assistance and our thoughts are with all those impacted by this tragedy.”
