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Saved by a whale’s tail - 16th November 2020

A massive sculpture of two whale tails has revealed itself as an unlikely saviour after it 'caught' a derailing Dutch train which had careened through the buffers at a metro station in Spijkenisse, near the city of Rotterdam.

Rather than plummeting 10 metres to the waters below the elevated metro line, the train was left suspended precariously mid air, resting on the tail of the plastic cetacean.

Installed in the waters below De Akkers station in 2002, the reinforced polyester sculpture depicts two whale tails emerging from the waters and was designed by architect and artist Maarten Struijs. Originally titled 'Whale Tails', within hours of the train incident taking place, the local authority had dubbed it 'Saved by the Whale's Tail'. That the structure successfully held together under the weight of the train carriage came as a surprise to Mr Struijs, who remarked that "it has been there for almost 20 years and you actually expect the plastic to pulverise a bit, but that is apparently not the case".

The train driver escaped without injury, and was able to remove himself from the derailed train without assistance.

Acting swiftly to secure the scene, emergency services are now grappling with the logistics of bringing the train carriage down in a careful and controlled manner.

The reason why the train overshot its stop has yet to be determined.