Two seriously hurt as passenger train derails in East Sussex

Twenty people have been injured, two seriously, after a train derailed in East Sussex and a major incident was declared.Network Rail said the 14:24 BST Southern service from London Victoria to Eastbourne came off the tracks close to Lewes railway station, shortly before 16:00 BST. Photographs from the scene showed people standing on top of overturned carriages, with passengers describing "pandemonium" on board and screaming.British Transport Police said three carriages derailed, leaving several people trapped. All 150 on board have now been evacuated.Several rail routes in the area were closed, as emergency teams rushed to the scene and people were advised to avoid the area. Patients were assessed and treated at the scene, with some sent to local hospitals.British Transport Police Chief Superintendent Dominique Ioannou said in a press briefing on Thursday night that a number of passengers were initially trapped but were all safely evacuated from the train.She said while two people sustained serious injuries, a further 18 suffered less serious injuries."The train started rocking violently and then I remember clocking eyes with this guy and then there was a lot of screaming," passenger Rachel Heath said."It felt like we flew in the air and the carriage landed on its side and it slid. I felt like it was going to completely flip over."There was a mum who was bleeding from her mouth and a dad and his son who had cuts. It was like a movie."Rob Bradley, who was on the train with his six-year-old daughter, said it was "pandemonium"."Our carriage actually jumped upwards and you could tell there was a derailment," he said."The emergency brakes then went on the train and everything got thrown forward."The train kind of skidded for quite a while before it stopped."Only then, when we turned around, did we see the whole back of the train was open and smoke and dust were pouring into the carriage."He said it was "incredibly hot" on the train because the air conditioning stopped working and no doors or windows were open.South East Coast Ambulance Service said passengers who did not require hospital treatment had been taken to a local community centre.Outside the centre, Yana Ludwig, who was travelling alone on the train from London to Lewes, said the experience as "completely terrifying"."There was a banging. Everything just went topsy turvy," the 56-year-old from the United States said."It seemed like a really long time but it probably was 10 seconds of that before the carriage actually fell on the side."