Argentina: Seven Girls Killed As Train Smashes Into Bus
Posted: 03 Nov 2011, 09:23
Seven Girls Killed As Train Smashes Into Bus
Sky News
7:01am UK, Thursday November 03, 2011
Seven schoolgirls have been killed after a freight train crashed into a bus dragging the vehicle 300 metres.
The accident happened in Argentina's western province of San Luis near the settlement of Zanjitas.
The bus was carrying 40 people, most of them girls from a private Catholic school, who were on their way to a religious event.
Provincial education minister Marcelo Sosa said: "There are many injured, some of whom could have to undergo amputation."
Six girls and a school employee died at the scene of the crash, and another student died later in an intensive care unit at a local hospital.
Mayor of Zanjitas, Jorge Antunez, said: "The truth is that the children were in a terrible state of shock and the first thing we tried to do was calm them down and transfer them to the hospital, because most of them had injuries, some serious."
The railway crossing was marked by signs but did not have a security bar, bridge or underpass.
Train accidents in Argentina are common - mostly around the capital Buenos Aires.
Sky News
7:01am UK, Thursday November 03, 2011
Seven schoolgirls have been killed after a freight train crashed into a bus dragging the vehicle 300 metres.
The accident happened in Argentina's western province of San Luis near the settlement of Zanjitas.
The bus was carrying 40 people, most of them girls from a private Catholic school, who were on their way to a religious event.
Provincial education minister Marcelo Sosa said: "There are many injured, some of whom could have to undergo amputation."
Six girls and a school employee died at the scene of the crash, and another student died later in an intensive care unit at a local hospital.
Mayor of Zanjitas, Jorge Antunez, said: "The truth is that the children were in a terrible state of shock and the first thing we tried to do was calm them down and transfer them to the hospital, because most of them had injuries, some serious."
The railway crossing was marked by signs but did not have a security bar, bridge or underpass.
Train accidents in Argentina are common - mostly around the capital Buenos Aires.