ARGENTINA: Rescue teams pull bodies from wreckage of a Buenos Aires commuter train after it crashed in the morning rush hour, killing 49 people and injuring more than 600.
Record ID:
382760
ARGENTINA: Rescue teams pull bodies from wreckage of a Buenos Aires commuter train after it crashed in the morning rush hour, killing 49 people and injuring more than 600.
- Title: ARGENTINA: Rescue teams pull bodies from wreckage of a Buenos Aires commuter train after it crashed in the morning rush hour, killing 49 people and injuring more than 600.
- Date: 23rd February 2012
- Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (FEBRUARY 22, 2012) (REUTERS) VIEW OF ONCE STATION WHERE CRASH TOOK PLACE CLOSE-UP OF SIGN READING: "ONCE" VIEW OF RESCUE TEAM CARRYING BODY ON STRETCHER FROM TRAIN VIEW OF DAMAGED TO CRASHED TRAIN POLICE AND RAIL OFFICIALS AT STATION
- Embargoed: 9th March 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Argentina, Argentina
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: Accidents,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVAASQX4BWWLQ4CL9I2T26LUS7WM
- Story Text: A packed commuter train ploughed into the buffers at a Buenos Aires station during Wednesday's (February 22) morning rush hour, killing 49 people and injuring more than 600 in Argentina's worst rail accident in more than 30 years, officials said.
Passengers told of chaos and panic as the impact of the collision propelled the second train car into the first carriage, trapping dozens of people as others looked on from the busy platforms at the central Once station.
Officials said faulty brakes were suspected of causing the accident.
More than 800 people were aboard the train, state news agency Telam reported.
A police captain said 49 people had been killed, including one child. Most of the damage was inflicted in the first two cars of the train.
Some 10 million passengers travel every month on the Sarmiento line, which links Buenos Aires to the city's western suburbs.
The country's dilapidated and overcrowded rail services, run by private companies and heavily subsidized by the state, are plagued by accidents and delays.
In September, two commuter trains crashed into a city bus, killing 11 people. And one year ago, four people died during another train accident.
The worst accidents in Argentine history include a 1970 crash that killed more than 230 people and another in 1978, in which about 55 died, local media said.
Argentina's once-extensive rail network was largely dismantled during the privatizations of the 1990s. President Cristina Fernandez has touted projects to revive train lines connecting Argentina to neighbouring Uruguay and Chile. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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