Whale sculpture catches crashed Dutch metro train

A train driver in the Netherlands has had a lucky escape thanks to a fortuitously placed art installation.

A metro train in Spijkenisse, near the city of Rotterdam, crashed through a barrier at the end of the tracks shortly before midnight on Sunday.

But rather than plummeting 10m (32ft) into the water below, the train was left suspended dramatically in the air.

It ended up being delicately balanced on the large sculpture of a whale's tail at the De Akkers metro station.

"We are trying to decide how we can bring the train down in a careful and controlled manner," one official told the Dutch national broadcaster NOS on Monday.