Eyewitness: Belgian train crash

Rescue workers cut people from the wreckage

Residents of the village of Pecrot watched in horror as Tuesday's train disaster unfolded before them.

One was leaving her home at the exact moment the collision between the two trains occurred.

There was a noise like two giant tin cans crashing together

Local resident Anna-Marie Choumuerthe

"I heard the train brake and then I turned and saw them one on top of the other," she said.

Anna-Marie Choumuerthe was in her home near the railway line.

"There was a noise like two giant tin cans crashing together," she said.

"I went out to see what happened. I heard and saw people at the windows screaming."

Another local resident, Bernardette Kounen, heard a loud bang and saw a cloud of black smoke.

"I went to see where this could be coming from because I thought it was a gas explosion, but when I saw the trains, which were tangled up, it was awful," she told Belgian radio.

It's only when I got out, when I saw the wreckage, that I realized what had really happened - I had a very narrow escape

Crash survivor

Ms Kounen said she then heard the cries of injured passengers.

"They were shrieking, that was awful. Some people managed to get out but they were in very bad shape."

Ameile Jassont lives in a house next to the track.

"I saw a black cloud of smoke rise up," she said. "The train was rocking back and forward, wobbling. It all happened so fast."

A teenage passenger who survived the collision said he did not initially realise he had been involved in a train crash.

"I thought it was just a derailment, " he said. "But when I got out that I saw that the carriage had been torn apart.

"I could hear a woman screaming. People were trying to open the windows with hammers but it did not work.

"It's only when I got out, when I saw the wreckage, that I realised what had really happened. I had a very narrow escape."