Two people have been left seriously injured and a further 18 hurt after a train carrying around 150 passengers derailed in extreme heat in East Sussex.
Now experts suggest that soaring temperatures may have caused the tracks or embankment beneath them to buckle.
The eight-carriage Southern service came off the tracks between Haywards Heath and Lewes at around 3.54pm on Thursday, with three carriages overturning and passengers forced to scramble out of the wreckage as temperatures climbed above 35C.
South East Coast Ambulance Service said around 150 people were on board the train, and 20 were injured. It said two people were rushed to the major trauma centre with ‘severe’ injuries, while a further 18 patients were also in hospital.
Three air ambulances and at least 20 other emergency vehicles raced to the scene, while a number of passengers who did not require hospital treatment were taken to a local community centre to be triaged and supported.
Pictures from the scene show passengers standing on top of the overturned carriages, with emergency crews including Sussex Police, British Transport Police, paramedics and East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service rushing to help those inside.
The cause of the derailment has not been confirmed, but transport experts have raised the possibility that the exceptional heat contributed to the crash by causing the rails to buckle or the dry ground beneath them to collapse.
Experts suggest that soaring temperatures may have caused the tracks or embankment beneath them to buckle before the train derailment in East Sussex
The eight-carriage Southern service came off the tracks between Haywards Heath and Lewes at around 3.54pm, with three carriages overturning
A passenger train has derailed near Lewes, leaving dozens of people trapped in overturned carriages
One passenger appeared to be being taken away by emergency staff on a stretcher
Emergency responders stand on top of the overturned train
One suggestion from transport expert Christian Wolmar was that the prolonged heat and drought could have caused the ground beneath the train to dry out and crack, causing part of that bank to give way, leaving the rails without proper support.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘Well, there are two possible reasons this has happened.
‘Obviously, the train track might have buckled before the train arrived. But because the first carriages didn’t derail, it might be that the dryness from the heat has led to the embankment collapsing, and then the train made the rails buckle rather than the other way round.
‘I noticed yesterday when I was out on Hampstead Heath for the eclipse. There’s just great big fissures in [the ground], big openings like there’s been an earthquake, and that must be happening in many places.
‘So it could be that there’s something like that that caused the embankment to partially collapse, and then the rails buckled under the weight of the train because the rails were unsupported. Which could be the more likely explanation given that the first four carriages didn’t go down.’
He added: ‘From what one can see of the amount of damage, it doesn’t seem that the train was going very fast, and it appears to not have been very heavily loaded, so fewer people were thrown into each other.
‘It certainly doesn’t seem to be a kind of high-speed crash, just from the lack of damage.’
Norman Baker, a former Lewes MP and ex-transport minister, also suggested the derailment may have been caused by a section of track buckling in the heat.
He told Times Radio: ‘They’ll want to make sure that the railways are completely safe before any trains are allowed back on them and if it has been the case – that the rails have buckled – that will take considerably longer to repair.’
Passengers could be seen sitting at an angle in the overturned train
There have been no reports of fatalities or serious injuries, although witnesses described passengers suffering cuts and bruising in the terrifying derailment
The cause of the derailment has not yet been confirmed
People being tended to at the scene after the train derailed near Lewes, East Sussex
One passenger described the terrifying moment she was suddenly thrown from her seat after hearing a ‘loud bang’.
Yana Ludwig, 56, from Washington State, USA said: ‘It was completely terrifying. I was coming back from London and Lewes is my stop.
‘There was a banging noise and everything went topsy turvy. There was lots of shaking, it felt like a really long time, but it was probably only about 10 seconds.
‘I landed on top of somebody. I’m just glad nobody was killed. It felt like it was maybe 20mins before the emergency services started showing up. It could’ve been faster, time is kind of warped.’
While Rob Bradley, who was travelling from London Victoria to Eastbourne with his six-year-old daughter Mabel when the crash happened, said they were in the fourth carriage while the fifth overturned.
He told the BBC: ‘We are doing okay, we were very lucky we were on the fourth carriage. The fifth went on its side.’
He said his daughter had been dancing between the fourth and fifth carriages just 30 seconds before the derailment.
‘As she sat down we felt the train speeding up and started to rock. Then our carriage jumped vertically upwards and we could tell it was a derailment.’
‘The emergency brakes went on the train and everything got thrown forward.’
‘The train skidded for quite a while before it stopped. We turned around and we saw the whole back of the train was open and smoke and dust were pouring into the carriage and we saw the fifth carriage had gone on its side.’
Southern Railway said all lines through Lewes had been closed to allow emergency services to reach the scene
An air ambulance was seen taking off from the scene at 5.58pm as the emergency response continued
Another passenger, dad-of-two Liton Miah from Eastbourne, said he had been travelling with his wife and daughters to visit relatives in London when the train overturned.
Mr Miah suffered heavy bruising to his side and said he had noticed a warning about a problem with the track before the crash.
‘I saw on the big board there as a problem with the track. I don’t know they didn’t take any precautions. I saved my family and tried to help another couple. The guy was bleeding heavily and there was not much I could do to help him.’
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was ‘deeply concerned’ following the incident.
‘Deeply concerned of reports of a derailment involving a Southern train in Lewes, Sussex,’ she wrote on social media platform X.
‘Grateful to emergency services who are on the scene supporting those impacted. We are working quickly with the rail industry and local partners to assist passengers.’
Southern Railway said all lines through Lewes had been closed to allow emergency services to reach the scene and warned passengers to expect major disruption until 10pm.
The operator said: ‘A train has derailed in the Lewes area. This has closed all lines running through this station.
‘As a result of this, trains are currently unable to run through the area to allow the emergency services to attend the incident.
‘Major disruption is expected until 10pm.’
The disruption is affecting services around Lewes, including routes between Brighton, Haywards Heath, Eastbourne and Seaford, with passengers advised to avoid the affected area while the emergency response and investigation continue.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch is deploying investigators to establish how the Southern service came off the tracks.

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