Edinburgh (AFP)

The British government on Thursday ordered a safety check of the rail network after a train derailed in north-east Scotland, "probably" linked to a landslide, which killed three people.

The 06:38 am (0538 GMT) train from Aberdeen to Glasgow derailed Wednesday near Stonehaven, about 25 kilometers south of Aberdeen. The area had been affected by heavy rains which caused flooding and landslides.

"We absolutely want to learn all the lessons from a tragedy like this," UK Transport Minister Grant Shapps said at the scene. "What happened here is horrific and we need to understand the cause. It looks like it was probably linked to a landslide," Shapps told Sky News.

He asked Network Rail, which manages the rail network, to immediately monitor the state of the network and to send it on 1 September the first conclusions of a report on the safety of the entire British network.

Three people were declared dead on the spot by the emergency services, who had been called at 09:43 local time (08:43 GMT). They are the driver, a 45-year-old man with three children, another railway worker and a passenger.

Six others were taken to hospital with "injuries which fortunately are not considered serious," British transport police said in a statement on Wednesday.

The Railway Accident Investigation Department said it had sent a team of inspectors to the scene of the accident and launched an investigation.

- "Very intense episodes" -

While the British rail network is known for its delays and management problems - leading to renationalizations of lines in recent years - it is known to be fairly safe and the last fatal derailment dated back to 2007.

Scottish Transport Minister Michael Matheson has stressed that the climate crisis is becoming more and more problematic.

"The rail network faces increasing challenges on different sections, not just here in Scotland but across the UK, due to the increasing number of very intense localized weather episodes which have a significant impact on infrastructure", he told BBC Scotland on Friday.

Network Rail said it is working with meteorologists to improve information on unexpected weather events like floods, which can happen very quickly.

The Queen, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon paid tribute to the victims.

Elizabeth II is currently at her residence in Balmoral, Scotland, approximately 75 kilometers from the scene of the accident. She expressed her "great sadness" and addressed her "thoughts and prayers", as well as those of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, to the families of the victims.

Asked on Sky News on Wednesday night, Boris Johnson demanded that transport police "find out exactly what happened" to "make sure nothing like this happens" in the future.

The emergency services encountered access difficulties on the spot, a wooded valley. Four firefighters were slightly injured during the response, Scottish firefighters said.

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