Whale's Tail Saves a Runaway Train

It's 2020, so why not?
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 2, 2020 8:11 AM CST
Whale's Tail Saves a Runaway Train
The whale's tail of a sculpture caught the front carriage of a metro train as it rammed through the end of an elevated section of rails in Spijkenisse, Netherlands, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020.   (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

The driver of a metro train in the Netherlands is a very, very lucky man. Incredible images show that a sculpture of a whale's tail saved him and his train from a nasty plunge, reports DutchNews.nl. The otherwise empty train broke through a barrier at the end of the tracks in Spijkenisse, near Rotterdam, and would have plunged more than 30 feet into water below had the whale's tail not been there, per the BBC. The images show the train perched precariously atop it. "I could never have imagined it," says one Dutch official of the scene. The driver was able to escape on his own, and authorities were still figuring out how to get the train back on firmer ground. The sculpture, in place about 20 years, is called Whale Tails. (More strange stuff stories.)

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