At least 49 dead, 550 injured after Argentina train crash

BUENOS AIRES -- A packed commuter train entering a station at morning rush hour Wednesday suddenly smashed into a retaining wall, crumpling cars and leaving at least 49 dead, 550 injured and dozens trapped in the twisted wreckage.

Survivors described a full train – there reportedly were as many as 800 aboard – and a tremendous impact, with passengers thrown on top of each other and hurled to the floor.

"Unfortunately, we must report that there are 49 dead in the accident," including a child, police spokesman Nestor Rodriguez told a news conference, according to AFP.

Civil defense officials said at least 550 people were injured in the crash.

AFP said witnesses reported it appeared the train's brakes failed as it pulled into the "Once" station on the western outskirts of Buenos Aires.

Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi said the train entered the station at a speed of 12 miles (20 km) per hour and failed to stop, crashing into a retaining wall at the end of the track.

"It was a very serious accident," he said at a news conference. "Cars piled up on top of each other and one of them went six meters (yards) inside another car."

"People suffered contusions, but there are much more complex cases involving traumas of the thorax. There are people trapped alive in the cars."

At least 30 people were trapped in the twisted wreckage of the first and second cars of the train, Alberto Crescenti, the head of the city's emergency services office, said, according to AFP.

Firefighters and rescue workers had to break through skylights in the train's roofs to get inside.

"I felt the explosion of the crash. It was very loud. The train did not brake, I saw people hurt in their necks, arms, legs," AFP quoted passenger Pedro Fuentes as saying.

Another passenger, who identified herself as Myriam, said she was with her two children, ages six and four.

"In a blink of an eye we were on the floor. I don't know how we got out. The door crashed in on me, and I covered the girl."

The train's driver was carried away on a stretcher.

Wednesday's wreck came just months after eight people were killed when their school bus collided with a train in central Argentina.

Another collision between a train and a bus in Buenos Aires last September killed 11 people and wounded another 212.

REUTERS

Rescue workers extract a passenger from a commuter train that crashed into the Once train station at rush hour in Buenos Aires Wednesday.

Original post:
At least 49 dead, 550 injured after Argentina train crash