Scores dead, hundreds hurt as train brakes fail

BUENOS AIRES: A packed commuter train slammed into the buffer stops at the end of the line at a railway terminus in Buenos Aires during rush hour yesterday, leaving at least 49 dead – including a child. Five hundred-and-fifty were injured, and dozens were trapped in the wreckage.

“The train was full and the impact was tremendous,” a passenger identified only as Ezequiel told local TV, adding that medics at the scene appeared overwhelmed.

Witnesses said passengers were hurled on top of each other and knocked to the floor “in the blink of an eye”, some losing consciousness and others seriously injured.

Civil defence officials said at least 550 people were injured in the crash, which witnesses said occurred after the train’s brakes failed as it was arriving at a station on the western outskirts of Buenos Aires.

The toll surpassed the city’s last major rail disaster just five months ago when two trains and a bus collided during rush hour, killing 11 people and injuring more than 200.

Officials said many passengers had suffered multiple fractures and abrasions. 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.

Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi said the train entered the station at a speed of 20km/h and failed to stop, crashing into a retaining wall at the end of the track.

“Cars piled up on top of each other and one them went 6m inside another car,” he said. “There are people trapped alive in the cars.”

Firefighters and rescue workers had to break through skylights in the train’s roofs to get to those trapped inside. The train’s driver was injured, but rescue workers pried him loose from the wreckage.

An investigation has been opened. The Sarmiento railway line uses rolling stock acquired in the 1960s. – AFP