An elevated commuter train in Spijkenisse, Netherlands, jumped off the rails and miraculously rested on a sculpture of a whale’s tail 30 feet above the ground, likely saving the life of the train’s driver, the Associated Press reports.
A WHALE OF A CATCH: A metro train blasts through its stop near the Dutch city of Rotterdam but is saved by the fluke of a giant whale sculpture. https://t.co/U20Z6U2jzm
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) November 2, 2020
The train crashed through the barrier at the end of its route and flew off the rail, coming to a rest on the plastic sculpture.
“I’m surprised it’s so strong,” the designer of the sculpture, Maarten Struijs, told Dutch broadcaster RTL said. “If plastic has been standing for 20 years, you don’t expect it to hold a metro carriage.”