A train driver has died after his high-speed passenger train collided with a lorry carrying military equipment at a level crossing in France. A number of injuries have also been reported following the incident, which took place on Tuesday morning between Béthune and Lens in the north-western Pas-de-Calais region. Two people were critically injured while 11 others sustained minor injuries, according to French media reports. The region's President Xavier Bertrand confirmed the death of the TGV driver and described the accident as a terrible tragedy. My thoughts are with his family, his loved ones and all the staff who are mourning his loss, he wrote on X. French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said he was heading to the scene along with the head of France's state-owned rail operator SNCF. Tabarot mentioned that the collision involved a heavy goods vehicle, specifically citing a truck that had been transporting military equipment. The incident happened just before 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT) and the train was traveling from Dunkirk to Paris. The regional rail network, TER Hauts-de-France, indicated that traffic between Béthune and Lens would be disrupted until mid-morning, with certain lines resuming gradually. The BBC has reached out to SNCF for comments. SNCF CEO Jean Castex has yet to publicly respond regarding the event. Rail union SUD-Rail has called for total transparency about the incident. This collision follows a recent similar tragedy, occurring less than two weeks prior, where another person died in a separate truck-train incident in the southern Var region. Such collisions at level crossings in France are relatively rare but more frequent than in the UK, with 89 incidents recorded in France in 2024, resulting in 20 fatalities, compared to only six in the UK.