POLAND: A prosecutor confirms a railway traffic controller has been charged with unintentionally causing the head-on collision of two trains, which claimed 16 lives
Record ID:
382765
POLAND: A prosecutor confirms a railway traffic controller has been charged with unintentionally causing the head-on collision of two trains, which claimed 16 lives
- Title: POLAND: A prosecutor confirms a railway traffic controller has been charged with unintentionally causing the head-on collision of two trains, which claimed 16 lives
- Date: 6th March 2012
- Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (MARCH 5, 2012) (REUTERS) MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT HEADQUARTERS TRANSPORT MINISTER SLAWOMIR NOWAK AT NEWS CONFERENCE TV CAMERAS (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) TRANSPORT MINISTER, SLAWOMIR NOWAK, SAYING: "I am avoiding discussion on the subject of who is more or less responsible -- the traffic controller, or the driver or the equipment. Let's wait for the report of the commission. I would like everybody to avoid being influenced by the atmosphere of searching for the guilty. I am counting on the commission's report to point very precisely to negligence, not guilt, because the guilty will be discovered by the prosecutors. Not negligence, but what was at fault, what the problem was and what should be fixed. And then in the name of safety we will consequently act (upon those findings)."
- Embargoed: 21st March 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Poland, Poland
- Country: Poland
- Topics: Accidents,Transport
- Reuters ID: LVA1T2LD7B99SMJS3BJG6DGNG1KZ
- Story Text: Polish authorities began investigating the causes of a train crash which killed 16 people on Saturday (March 3).
Poland's transport ministry called a commission which will be investigating the causes of the crash.
"I am avoiding discussion on the subject of who is more or less responsible - the traffic controller, or the driver or the equipment. Let's wait for the report of the commission," Transport Minister Slawomir Nowak said.
"I would like everybody to avoid being influenced by the atmosphere of searching for the guilty. I am counting on the commission's report to point very precisely to negligence, not guilt, because the guilty will be discovered by the prosecutors. Not negligence, but what was at fault, what the problem was and what should be fixed. And then in the name of safety we will consequently act (upon those findings)," Nowak added.
Czestochowa prosecutors charged a railway traffic controller for unintentionally causing the head-on collision of two trains which sped towards each other on the same track.
The prosecutors investigating Poland's worst train disaster in 22 years said the controller, who is under psychiatric supervision due to shock, faces up to eight years in prison for incorrectly setting the mechanism routing the trains.
"I can confirm that at the order of the prosecutors police have apprehended two people. These are traffic controllers from rail posts responsible for train traffic on the route where the rail catastrophe occurred. In the course of the investigation the evidence allowed us to charge one of these people for unintentionally causing the rail catastrophe," said prosecutor Tomasz Ozimek.
The other controller who was on duty on Saturday night when the accident occurred was also detained and will remain at prosecutors' disposal but will not be charged, he added.
The two trains travelling at a combined speed of some 100 kmh (60 mph) collided near the town of Szczekociny in southern Poland, sending one of the locomotives in the air, crashing several of the front cars and sending others off the track.
Investigators have identified all but one of the 16 bodies found in and around the twisted wreckage, including three drivers on the two trains.
Forty seven of the nearly sixty passengers injured in the crash remained hospitalised, with four in intensive care.
On Monday, national flags around Poland flew at half-mast and most public events were cancelled or delayed as the country began a two-day mourning for the victims of the train accident. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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