20 people injured in UK train derailment

Twenty people have been injured after a passenger train derailed on Thursday near Lewes in East Sussex.

British Transport Police said two people suffered “serious injuries” and a further 18 sustained “less serious injuries” during the incident involving the train operated by Southern Rail.

There was no immediate information about what caused the train — which was the 2.24pm service between London Victoria and Eastbourne — to derail.

Pictures showed the last three of eight carriages that formed the train were flipped over on their side during the incident. They also appeared to show the track behind the train had buckled significantly.

The derailment comes amid a heatwave in the UK, several train services had been canceled and others were running at reduced speeds because of the severe heat. Temperatures in some parts of southern England reached 35 degrees Celsius, or 95 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday.

Network Rail has previously cautioned that high temperatures can cause rail track to expand and possibly buckle.