Four children killed as Dutch train hits daycare bike

Four children from a Dutch daycare center were killed on Thursday when a train hit their electric cargo bike at a level crossing, police said on Thursday.

A fifth child and a woman were also critically injured in the accident in Oss, a town near the German border around 110 kilometers southeast of the capital Amsterdam.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte tweeted his condolences from an EU summit in Salzburg, Austria, over a tragedy that has shaken the cyclingmad country.

“Deeply affected by the incredibly sad news from Oss where four young children have died in a horrible accident. I wish everyone involved much strength with this heavy loss,” Rutte said.

Cargo bikes – bikes with a large box on the front used for carrying children or shopping – are a common sight in the Netherlands, where cycling is a way of life.

Police confirmed that the train collided with the threewheeler bike on a crossing as it was taking children from the daycare center to drop them off at local schools.

“Four children were killed in the accident. Emergency services are still at the scene,” police in Brabant province said on Twitter.

“The accident involved an electric cargo bike from a nursery that was headed for a school in Oss,” they added.

“The families concerned have been informed by us of the awful news.”