The first two cars were packed as usual for the morning rush, so tightly that people stood pressed flesh to flesh, sandwiched between bicycles and the few seats, many without so much as a strap to hold onto.
This train didn't lurch, though. It had trouble stopping at all, overshooting platform after platform and missing at least one station entirely as it rushed toward the end of the line.
The train didn't come to a halt until it had slammed into a metal barrier at Buenos Aires' Once station. With eight cars carrying a mass of steel and humanity -- more than 1,200 people on board -- the momentum was devastating. Forty-nine people were killed and 600 were injured.
Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi said the cause of the accident was unclear.
"The train entered (the station) at the regular speed. That's the part where the accident happens, the mystery or the responsibility. We don't know what happened in the last 40 meters. The operator was at his post and the train did not stop," Schiavi said.
The accident's cause has not been determined and "investigative tasks are being conducted", Transporte de Buenos Aires, or TBA, which operates the train service, said in a statement.
Railway union leaders said the train involved in the accident was a 40-year-old or 50-year-old unit, adding that Argentina's railroad system was antiquated and lacked investment and maintenance.
Video cameras at the station took footage of the crash, showing the second car crushing the first and trapping dozens of people inside.
"We were getting ready to get off because the train was slowing down and we felt a sudden jolt and the second car looked like it was going to envelope the first one. The people around me were mashed together," a survivor who identified himself only as Marcelo said.
"Thank God that I can tell the story," the survivor, who was riding in the first car, said.
"I was standing and everybody fell down, everybody was desperate, we all wanted to get out, but we couldn't. It was like an earthquake," a female commuter said.
More than 100 ambulances and two helicopters took part in the rescue operation, transporting the injured to hospitals around the city.
Rescue teams worked for more than four hours at the station, cutting the tops of the train cars to reach victims.
Union leaders said there has been a failure to invest in new trains or upgrade old ones with modern safety equipment.
The train's last recorded speed was about 25 kilometres per hour.
"That's a very slow speed" for so many casualties, University of Southern California engineering professor Naj Meshkati told The Associated Press. "It's important to look at the age of the cars."
This train didn't lurch, though. It had trouble stopping at all, overshooting platform after platform and missing at least one station entirely as it rushed toward the end of the line.
The train didn't come to a halt until it had slammed into a metal barrier at Buenos Aires' Once station. With eight cars carrying a mass of steel and humanity -- more than 1,200 people on board -- the momentum was devastating. Forty-nine people were killed and 600 were injured.
Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi said the cause of the accident was unclear.
"The train entered (the station) at the regular speed. That's the part where the accident happens, the mystery or the responsibility. We don't know what happened in the last 40 meters. The operator was at his post and the train did not stop," Schiavi said.
The accident's cause has not been determined and "investigative tasks are being conducted", Transporte de Buenos Aires, or TBA, which operates the train service, said in a statement.
Railway union leaders said the train involved in the accident was a 40-year-old or 50-year-old unit, adding that Argentina's railroad system was antiquated and lacked investment and maintenance.
Video cameras at the station took footage of the crash, showing the second car crushing the first and trapping dozens of people inside.
"We were getting ready to get off because the train was slowing down and we felt a sudden jolt and the second car looked like it was going to envelope the first one. The people around me were mashed together," a survivor who identified himself only as Marcelo said.
"Thank God that I can tell the story," the survivor, who was riding in the first car, said.
"I was standing and everybody fell down, everybody was desperate, we all wanted to get out, but we couldn't. It was like an earthquake," a female commuter said.
More than 100 ambulances and two helicopters took part in the rescue operation, transporting the injured to hospitals around the city.
Rescue teams worked for more than four hours at the station, cutting the tops of the train cars to reach victims.
Union leaders said there has been a failure to invest in new trains or upgrade old ones with modern safety equipment.
The train's last recorded speed was about 25 kilometres per hour.
"That's a very slow speed" for so many casualties, University of Southern California engineering professor Naj Meshkati told The Associated Press. "It's important to look at the age of the cars."
No comments:
Post a Comment