European Commission president von der Leyen 'heartbroken' after school bus crash
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, responded to the crash on her social media.
She said:
“I was heartbroken to learn of the tragic accident between a train and a school bus in Buggenhout today. My deepest condolences go out to the victims’ families and their loved ones. Today, Europe grieves with Belgium.”
Four dead, two seriously injured in school bus crash, minister says
Belgium’s mobility minister Jean-Luc Crucke told Belgian broadcaster RTL that four people died in the crash – two children, the driver and the other adult.
“It’s tragic,” he was reported as saying.
“My first thoughts are with the victims, but also with those who were injured and their families.”
Two people were seriously injured, he added.
We are getting first pictures from the scene of the crash, which took place at a level crossing in Buggehnout at just past 8am local time.
The crossing was reportedly closed at the time of the incident, HLN reported.
Reuters notes that Belgium, where a dense railway network crisscrosses towns and villages, has a history of accidents at level crossings. Five people died in such accidents in 2025, railway infrastructure operator Infrabel says on its website, the lowest number recorded since 2020.
No injuries were reported on the train.
'Several' people injured after school bus was struck by train in Belgium
A collision between a train and a school bus in the Belgian town of Buggenhout on Tuesday morning with several people reported to be affected.
Reuters and local media reported that several people were killed in the crash, but this has not been officially confirmed by the authorities so far.
Local media Het Laatste Nieuws reported that 7 children and two adults were believed to be on the bus at the time of the crash.
Belgium’s interior minister, Bernard Quintin, said there were several “victims,” without offering more detail.
“With great dismay, I learned of the tragic accident in Buggenhout, where a school bus was struck by a train. My thoughts go out to the victims and their loved ones. I wish the injured much strength,” he said on X.
Spokesperson for the federal police, quoted by Le Soir, did not disclose any further information on the condition of people affected by the incident.
Updated
Seven dead reported in heatwave-linked incidents in France
The French government said Tuesday that seven people were reported to have died in connection to the recent heatwave baking much of western Europe, five of which were drownings, AFP reported.
“What I can say today is that there have been seven deaths directly or indirectly related to the heat,” government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told television broadcaster TF1.
Bregeon added that the figures and specific causes of death would need “to be clarified once the episode we are currently experiencing has come to an end”.
'Unprecedented event with 1/1000 chance of happening' as record-breaking heatwave hits Europe
Jon Henley in Paris and Sam Jones in Madrid
More than 350 French towns have recorded their highest-ever temperatures for May as France and the UK set national heat records amid an extreme early-summer heat event that could see the mercury rise to 40C in parts of Spain by the end of the week.
The UK’s Met Office said the country’s all-time record for May was broken when a temperature of 34.8C was recorded at London’s Kew Gardens.
Météo France said late on Monday that new monthly highs for May had been recorded at 352 weather stations mainly in western France, with the highest – 37.1C – registered near Hossegor, in the south-western department of Landes.
“This is an unprecedented event with a one in 1,000 chance of happening at this time of year based on the climate from 1979 to 2025 and virtually impossible in the preindustrial era,” Christophe Cassou, a climate scientist, told Le Monde.
More new highs are likely to be set in France, Spain and the UK, forecasters said, with temperatures exceeding norms by 12C or 13C in what Météo France described as a “premature, remarkable and long” heat episode expected to last several more days.
Morning opening: This terrible war
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said that the war in Ukraine “needs to come to an end,” after his conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
Responding to the strikes on Kyiv over the weekend and repeated warnings about more attacks planned in the coming days, Rubio said:
“Look, every time you see these big strikes from one side or the other, it’s a reminder of why this is a terrible war that’s now gone on longer than the second world war, and it needs to come to an end.”
Rubio said that Lavrov wanted to reiterate his warning to the US to pull its diplomats from the Ukrainian capital, but appeared to downplay it, saying:
“They sent a notice to all the embassies, and I think he was just calling me personally to tell me – they told all the embassies to – Kyiv’s going to be a very dangerous place – Kyiv’s been a very dangerous place now for a number of years.”
Despite the warning, several European diplomats insisted they would stay put in the capital, including the EU’s ambassador Katarina Mathernova.
But Rubio cautioned against the threat of further escalation:
“Look, the danger in all of these wars as they continue and then they go on is that they always have the threat of escalation, of spreading into something new.”
Curiously, Rubio said that Lavrov also wanted to “relay” a message from Russia’s Vladimir Putin to US president Donald Trump, without offering more details.
Elsewhere, I will look at the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Lithuania as she wants to offer her solidarity with the region amid growing Russian threats, follow closely Hungary’s Péter Magyar as he delivers a speech on planned reforms in the Hungarian parliament, and bring you the latest on the record-heating heatwave across Europe.
It’s Tuesday, 26 May 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
