Belgian officials report that two commuter trains were involved in a head-on collision Monday after one ran a stop light at rush hour, killing at least 18 people.

Other officials have indicated the death toll could go higher. At least 80 people were injured in the accident.

Lodewijk De Witte, the governor of the province of Flemish Brabant, told reporters four hours after the crash that the official death toll was 11, then added later that it had gone to 12 and "will certainly rise." He said one train "apparently did not heed a stop light."

The trains smashed into each other in snowy conditions in a town southwest of Brussels. There was considerable damage to the trains.

Witnesses said the impact of the crash peeled off the front of the train car and threw at least one other off the tracks, causing amputations and other severe injuries.

"It was a nightmare," Christian Wampach, 47, told The Associated Press after medical workers bandaged his head at a sports complex where the less seriously injured were treated.

"We were thrown about for about 15 seconds. There were a number of people injured in my car but I think all the dead were in the first car," said Wampach, who was in the third car of a Brussels-bound train.

The crash also caused massive damage to overhead power lines, and shut down travel along european high-speed rail lines. There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash.