Deaths, Hundreds Injured in Buenos Aires Train Crash
A packed commuter train slammed into barriers at a railway terminus in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires during rush hour Wednesday, leaving an unknown number of people dead, 550 injured, and dozens trapped in the wreckage.
"The train was full and the impact was tremendous," a passenger identified only as Ezequiel told local television, stating that medics at the scene were overwhelmed.
At least 30 people were trapped in the first and second cars of the train, Alberto Crescenti, the head of the city's emergency services office, said.
Many passengers were seriously hurt, with multiple fractures and abrasions, officials said, adding that at least a dozen ambulances had been dispatched to the scene immediately after the crash west of the Argentine capital.
"There are some deaths. We don't yet know how many," Daniel Russo, a civil protection agency spokesman, told a press conference here, as rescue workers frantically worked to free people from the twisted rail cars.
The train's motorman was injured but was freed from his cabin by rescue workers. Local television showed images of him and several people being carried away from the scene on stretchers.
The accident occurred just five months after another major transit incident rocked the Argentine capital, during a morning rush hour crash involving two trains and a bus.
That accident in September killed 11 people including the bus driver and injured more 200.
The region's transit system has been plagued with serious accidents in recent years.
In March 2008, 18 people were killed and 47 injured when a bus was hit by a train in Dolores, 212 kilometers (132 miles) south of Buenos Aires.
Argentina's deadliest train tragedy was in 1970, an accident that killed 200 people in northern Buenos Aires.
Source: Agence France Presse
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