At least 49 dead and hundreds injured as train crashes in Argentina
Helicopters and ambulances ferry survivors to hospital after rush hour service ploughs into barrier at end of line in Buenos Aires
Associated Press in Buenos Aires
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 22 February 2012 14.35 GMT
A train packed with hundreds of morning commuters slammed into the end of the line in a busy station in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds in Argentina's worst rail accident in decades.
Federal police commissioner Nestor Rodriguez said 48 adults and one child had died.
At least 550 more were injured, and emergency workers were slowly extracting dozens of people trapped inside the first carriage, said Alberto Crescenti, the city's emergency medical director. Rescuers cut open the roof and set up a pulley system to ease survivors out one by one.
The commuter train came into the Once station too fast and hit the barrier at the end of the platform at about 16mph, smashing the front of the engine and causing the carriages behind to concertina into it.
Omar Maturano, chief of the conductors' union, told local radio that the train might have been travelling as fast as 18mph.
Most damaged was the first carriage, which passengers share with bicycles. Survivors told the TeleNoticias TV channel that many people were injured in a jumble of metal and glass.
Passengers said windows exploded and people standing between the seats were thrown into each other and to the floor by the impact.
Many people who had suffered minor injuries were left waiting on the station's platforms as helicopters and more than a dozen ambulances took the most seriously injured to nearby hospitals.
It is Argentina's worst train accident since 1 February 1970, when two trains collided at full speed in the Buenos Aires suburbs, killing 200.
"This machine left the shop yesterday and the brakes worked well," said Ruben Sobrero, the train workers' union chief on the Sarmiento line, in a radio interview. "From what we know, it braked without problems at previous stations. At this point I don't want to speculate about the causes."
The driver is in hospital and the union had not yet been able to speak to him, Sobrero added.
There are further stories, including video and pictures at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... crash.html (video)
http://www.channel4.com/news/scores-kil ... rain-crash? (video)
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/303 ... rain-crash?
http://uk.reuters.com/video/2012/02/22/ ... fresh=true (video)
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/02 ... tml?ref=uk (photos)
At least 49 dead, 550+ injured in Argentina train crash
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Re: At least 49 dead, 550+ injured in Argentina train crash
BBC 23 February 2012 Last updated at 05:10
Argentina train crash in Buenos Aires kills 49
At least 49 people have been killed and more than 600 injured in the worst train crash in Argentina in 40 years, officials say.
The train hit the end of the platform at Once station in the capital Buenos Aires during the morning rush hour.
"We assume that there was some fault in the brakes," Transportation Secretary JP Schiavi said.
Dozens of people were trapped for hours in the wreckage but all have now been successfully taken to safety.
The government declared two days of mourning and called off planned carnival festivities in the country.
Jumble of metal
"The train was full and the impact was tremendous," a passenger identified as Ezequiel told local television after the crash on Wednesday.
Medics at the scene were overwhelmed by the casualties, he added.
"People started to break windows and get out however they could," another eyewitness told Reuters.
"Then I saw the engine destroyed and the train driver trapped amongst the steel. There were a lot of people hurt, a lot of kids, elderly," the eyewitness added.
Police outside Once station had to "keep back the curious and concerned as paramedics treated the injured", eyewitness Tom English told the BBC.
The train had hit the barrier at about 12mph (20km/h), destroying the front of the engine and crunching the carriages behind it, Mr Schiavi said.
One of the carriages was driven nearly 6m (20ft) into the next, he added.
Survivors told local media that many people had been injured in a jumble of metal and glass.
Emergency medical system director Alberto Crescenti said that some passengers who survived had to have limbs amputated. Many suffered from arrested breathing and trauma to the thorax region.
Many are in a critical condition in the city's hospitals and there are concerns that the death toll could rise, the BBC's Vladimir Hernandez in Buenos Aires reports.
Five accidents have occurred in and around the city in recent months, our correspondent says.
Many parts of Argentina's rail network are antiquated and in need of repair and this incident will increase concern about lack of investment in the system, he adds.
"This is the responsibility of a company that is known for insufficient maintenance and... improvisation," Edgardo Reinoso of the train workers' union told Reuters.
"Lack of controls" on the part of state agencies was also to blame, Mr Reinoso added.
Trenes de Buenos Aires, the firm which owned the train, expressed its "deep regret" over the accident.
"The firm sends its condolences to all the families of those passengers who died and remains worried for the state of health of those who were injured," it said in a statement.
In September 2011, 11 people died when a commuter train in Buenos Aires hit a bus crossing the tracks and then hit a second train coming into a station.
This latest accident is Argentina's worst train crash since February 1970, when a train smashed into another at full speed in suburban Buenos Aires, killing 200 people.
Analysis: Argentine rail safety
Vladimir Hernandez
BBC News, Buenos Aires
Last year, at least 23 people died and over 300 were injured in train accidents in Argentina. The Once station crash is the worst since the 1970s and raises questions about the safety of the rail network.
"It is still quite safe," says Juan Alberto Roccatagliata, the director of the National Rail Authority until 2010. But, he says, accidents can happen.
"However, investment levels and maintenance have not been up to what is required to reduce the probability of things like this happening."
The Buenos Aires rail system transports some 400 million passengers a year, making it the biggest in South America. In the 1990s, most of it was privatised in the hope of boosting investment in infrastructure.
"But this did not happen as the contracts given to private companies did not oblige them to invest in the network," says Pablo Martorelli, president of the Argentine Rail Institute.
"Companies are not interested in investing as they already get their income from state subsidies," he says.
Argentina train crash in Buenos Aires kills 49
At least 49 people have been killed and more than 600 injured in the worst train crash in Argentina in 40 years, officials say.
The train hit the end of the platform at Once station in the capital Buenos Aires during the morning rush hour.
"We assume that there was some fault in the brakes," Transportation Secretary JP Schiavi said.
Dozens of people were trapped for hours in the wreckage but all have now been successfully taken to safety.
The government declared two days of mourning and called off planned carnival festivities in the country.
Jumble of metal
"The train was full and the impact was tremendous," a passenger identified as Ezequiel told local television after the crash on Wednesday.
Medics at the scene were overwhelmed by the casualties, he added.
"People started to break windows and get out however they could," another eyewitness told Reuters.
"Then I saw the engine destroyed and the train driver trapped amongst the steel. There were a lot of people hurt, a lot of kids, elderly," the eyewitness added.
Police outside Once station had to "keep back the curious and concerned as paramedics treated the injured", eyewitness Tom English told the BBC.
The train had hit the barrier at about 12mph (20km/h), destroying the front of the engine and crunching the carriages behind it, Mr Schiavi said.
One of the carriages was driven nearly 6m (20ft) into the next, he added.
Survivors told local media that many people had been injured in a jumble of metal and glass.
Emergency medical system director Alberto Crescenti said that some passengers who survived had to have limbs amputated. Many suffered from arrested breathing and trauma to the thorax region.
Many are in a critical condition in the city's hospitals and there are concerns that the death toll could rise, the BBC's Vladimir Hernandez in Buenos Aires reports.
Five accidents have occurred in and around the city in recent months, our correspondent says.
Many parts of Argentina's rail network are antiquated and in need of repair and this incident will increase concern about lack of investment in the system, he adds.
"This is the responsibility of a company that is known for insufficient maintenance and... improvisation," Edgardo Reinoso of the train workers' union told Reuters.
"Lack of controls" on the part of state agencies was also to blame, Mr Reinoso added.
Trenes de Buenos Aires, the firm which owned the train, expressed its "deep regret" over the accident.
"The firm sends its condolences to all the families of those passengers who died and remains worried for the state of health of those who were injured," it said in a statement.
In September 2011, 11 people died when a commuter train in Buenos Aires hit a bus crossing the tracks and then hit a second train coming into a station.
This latest accident is Argentina's worst train crash since February 1970, when a train smashed into another at full speed in suburban Buenos Aires, killing 200 people.
Analysis: Argentine rail safety
Vladimir Hernandez
BBC News, Buenos Aires
Last year, at least 23 people died and over 300 were injured in train accidents in Argentina. The Once station crash is the worst since the 1970s and raises questions about the safety of the rail network.
"It is still quite safe," says Juan Alberto Roccatagliata, the director of the National Rail Authority until 2010. But, he says, accidents can happen.
"However, investment levels and maintenance have not been up to what is required to reduce the probability of things like this happening."
The Buenos Aires rail system transports some 400 million passengers a year, making it the biggest in South America. In the 1990s, most of it was privatised in the hope of boosting investment in infrastructure.
"But this did not happen as the contracts given to private companies did not oblige them to invest in the network," says Pablo Martorelli, president of the Argentine Rail Institute.
"Companies are not interested in investing as they already get their income from state subsidies," he says.
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John Ashworth
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Re: At least 49 dead, 550+ injured in Argentina train crash
Argentine train crash was avoidable, says official (The Independent)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 40405.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 40405.html