Eighteen people have been injured in a collision between a train and a milk tanker on a rural train line in Groningen province.

The Arriva train was derailed in the collision on the Voslaan crossing, just outside the village of Winsum, on Friday afternoon. It was travelling from Groningen to Roodeschool. The driver of the milk lorry was unhurt.

Witnesses told Dagblad van het Noorden they had seen an air ambulance and several road ambulances on their way to the scene.

Between 50 and 75 people were on the train. Passengers with minor injuries were treated at local fire stations but 11 people were taken to hospital for treatment. None were seriously injured

Niels de Jong, who was sitting in the front carriage, told NOS: ‘There was a loud noise, then the train suddenly turned on its side and pieces of glass, wall and people flew through the train.

‘I saw one person being taken away with a cut to his forehead, other people around me were led away with smaller glass wounds and sore backs and ribs.’

Crash

The crossing was the scene of a fatal crash two years ago, when a train hit a car driven by a 24-year-old man. Six months earlier another driver survived a similar collision.

All trains have been cancelled between Groningen and Roodeschool for the rest of the day.

This article has been updated with new figures on how many people were injured.