Halle , Belgium ( CNN ) -- At least 18 people died and 162 were hurt when two trains collided in Halle on Monday , a government spokeswoman said . The trains collided head-on at 8:30 a.m. , the companies that run the Belgian railways and the train said . The cause of the accident is not known , according to the railway operator , Infrabel , and SNCB , the train operator . Authorities do not believe there is anyone else on the trains , said Anya De Wols , spokeswoman for the province of Flemish Brabant . But they have not ruled out the possibility bodies could be pinned beneath the train cars , she said , and they plan to lift the cars from the track by Tuesday . Also on Tuesday , investigators will collect personal effects , such as wallets , from the scene to help identify the victims , she said . Send your pictures , videos , stories . A Belgian government spokesman , Bart Ouvry , said it was snowing at the time of the crash , but not an unusual amount . People were thrown against the walls of the trains by the impact , said Emily Divinagracia , whose husband , Stephan Riviere , was a passenger . He was awakened by the impact , she said he told her by phone minutes after the accident . It took about 30 minutes for rescue crews to arrive , and some passengers did not immediately know there had been a collision , she said . `` He was actually getting the news from me , because they did n't know much on their side and it was all a bit disorganized , obviously , because nobody expected this sort of thing to happen , '' she said . Riviere was not badly injured , his wife said . The injured were being treated at a sports center near the scene of the accident , the Belga news agency reported . Fifty-five of them were taken to hospitals , while more than a hundred others had minor injuries , De Wols said . The crash took place during morning rush hour when people were on their way to work , Belga journalist Eric Vidal said from the scene . Pictures showed people being taken from the crash site by stretcher as snow fell . Passengers who were not hurt in the crash were taken away by bus , according to Vidal . He said people had come to the station to try to find family members who may have been involved in the crash . Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme is on his way back from Kosovo , Albania , and would visit the scene of the crash , his office said . The Justice Ministry is in charge of the investigation , Leterme 's office added . The crash caused disruption to parts of the wider rail network in northern Europe . Eurostar suspended high-speed train services between London , England , and Brussels , Belgium , the company announced , and did not expect the trains to run for the rest of the day . London-to-Paris services were not affected , the company said , but there were delays on the service to Lille in northern France close to the border with Belgium . Thalys , which operates high-speed trains across much of northern Europe , announced that services were fully suspended all day , affecting travel to Brussels from Paris , France ; Amsterdam , Netherlands ; and Cologne , Germany . The company urged passengers planning to travel this week to check its Web site , www.thalys.com , before starting their trips . The French high-speed train operator TGV Europe announced that its Brussels-bound services were going only as far as Lille . Eight people died in a train crash in Belgium in March 2001 , media reports said at the time , calling it the worst rail accident in the country in 25 years . Investigators later suggested the two trains collided because of confusion between a French-speaking signalman and a Flemish-speaking one . Belgium is divided between speakers of the two languages . Monday 's crash is one of the deadliest train accidents in Europe since at least 41 people were killed in the Balkan nation of Montenegro in 2006 . At least 180 passengers also were injured when a train derailed and plunged down an embankment outside the capital , Podgorica . CNN 's Jessica Hartogs , Cristina Lynch , Claudia Rebaza , Nick Hunt and Abey Benga contributed to this report .
The cause of the accident on Monday morning not immediately clear . Total : 18 people dead , 20 people injured by crash . News agency : Wounded treated at a sports center near the scene of the accident . The accident has caused damage to much of the wider rail network in Europe .