Train crash: Wreckage searched

2004-11-07 11:27

London - Firefighters and police on Sunday searched the wreckage of a train crash that killed six people and seriously injured 11 others at a level crossing west of London.

The train driver and five passengers died after the locomotive struck a car at the crossing and derailed at about 06:30 on Saturday, officials said.

More than 20 ambulances and 14 fire engines rushed to the scene at Ufton Nervet near Reading, 58km west of London. Emergency workers had freed passengers trapped in the wreckage by 23:30 on Saturday, said the fire service.

But firefighters and police with dogs searched the area and surrounding fields until first light to ensure there were no other casualties lying nearby, said Andy Trotter, Deputy Chief Constable of the British Transport Police.

He said it was too early to comment on why the car had been on the level crossing, which had automatic barriers which blocked one lane on each side of the track.

Eight carriages derailed

Thames Valley Police said that at least eight carriages on the service from London Paddington to Plymouth in southwest England had been derailed and one had split in two by the force of the impact.

TV pictures on Sunday morning showed the derailed train wagons jumbled on the line and what appeared to be a car wheel.

The train was carrying about 300 passengers. Some 80 people were treated at two local hospitals for injuries, although many had only minor cuts and bruises, ambulance and hospital officials said.

The intersection where the crash occurred is known as an automatic half-barrier crossing. The half-barriers don't block all of the road, only oncoming traffic in each direction. This allows cars to leave the crossing once the barriers have descended if they have been accidentally caught in-between.

- AP