A commuter train car careened off the end of elevated train tracks yesterday near Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It was saved from plunging more than 30 feet to the ground when it landed on the sculpture of a whale’s tail. It was indeed a fluke.
The NYTimes quotes Ruud Natrop, a spokesman for safety in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond area, where the accident occurred. “It’s like the scene of a Hollywood movie,” he said. “Thank God the tail was there.”
The derailment, in the city of Spijkenisse, happened around 12:30 a.m. on Monday, according to local news outlets. The driver was the only person on the city train and was unharmed, Mr. Natrop said, and was taken to the hospital for an evaluation and then to the police station for questioning.
Afgelopen nacht vond er bij metrostation De Akkers in Spijkenisse een bizar ongeval plaats met een metrostel. Bekijk hieronder de beelden en het interview met de woordvoerder van de veiligheidsregio.
Het artikel staat online: https://t.co/kW5ZiiEEy1 pic.twitter.com/qOUFwocG2M
— Joey Bremer (@010fotograaf) November 2, 2020
Thanks to Irwin Bryan for contributing to this post
The whales tail from the pictures makes the scene look like it is some sort of abandoned russian town. Overgrown bushes and a train stradling a cavernous space as if some form of modern art for interpertation.