Train lands on Whale sculpture after crashing through barrier

In what could be termed a miracle, a train crashed through a barrier at a Dutch station and landed on a giant whale sculpture, 25 feet in the air. 

However, no loss of life was reported in the incident.

The incident occurred at a metro station in Spijkenisse city of Netherland when a train ran through the station buffer. Images show how the train shot through the end of the track and came to rest suspended precariously on the artwork.

The undercarriage of the train was completely ripped up in the process, and the train’s back windows were smashed in.

The artwork that it came to rest on, ironically named ‘Saved by the Whale’s Tail’, features two tails that are designed to look as though they are protruding out of water at a height of 25 feet each.

The sculpture was built around 20 years ago in a park underneath the raised metro, its name a deliberate play on the fact that it is a ‘tail track’ at the end of the line.

There were no passengers inside the train when the incident happened and the driver also remained unharmed during the entire episode. He was shifted to a hospital for a check-up.

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‘The metro went off the rails and it landed on a monument called Saved by the Whale’s Tail. So that literally happened,’ Carly Gorter of the Rijnmond regional safety authority told AFP.

The driver was later held for questioning, the safety authority said. The cause of the crash was still being investigated.

A team of experts, including the architect of the sculpture, was now on-site to work out how to safely remove the train.

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