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Reports from Belgium say at least 20 people have been killed in a head-on collision between two trains outside the capital, Brussels.

Railway officials said the two trains collided during the morning rush hour at Halle, south-west of Brussels.

The local mayor told Belgian media that at least 20 people had been killed in the crash, but railway officials could not confirm the figure.

Belgian media said the trains collided in snowy conditions.

Mayor Dirk Pieters said "the most recent information we have is that 20 people died".

The trains collided in the commuter town around 0830 local time (0730GMT) Monday when the carriages were .

Television pictures showed the lead carriages of each train pushed into the air leaning against each other.

Witnesses said passengers were thrown around violently inside the trains.

Emergency workers said there was considerable damage to the overhead power lines at the station in Buizingen, the district of Halle where the trains crashed.

Railway services in the area, including the high-speed line between Paris and Brussels, have been blocked.

Eurostar said services to and from Brussels were canceled until further notice.

There has been no indication of what caused the collision but it comes after a weekend of snow and freezing temperatures across Belgium.

In 2001, eight people were killed and 12 were injured in a head-on collision between commuter trains outside Brussels. It was thought that language difficulties between a Flemish-speaking signalman and a French-speaking colleague might have been a factor in that crash.

Another accident in 2008 left more than 40 people injured when a passenger train traveling in the wrong direction hit a goods train in central Belgium, AFP news agency said.