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Trains in deadly crash
31/08/2007 10:22 - (SA)
Rio De Janeiro - At least eight people died and 111 were injured in a train crash on Thursday in a northern suburb of Rio de Janeiro, firefighters and officials said.
"It is a tragedy with eight killed," said fire department chief Pedro Marcos.
Rio de Janeiro state health secretary Luiz Cortes said 111 injured people have been hospitalised, 12 in serious condition.
Officials said the death toll could go higher in the next few hours.
One train carrying passengers smashed at 80km per hour into a slow-moving train with four empty carriages that was changing tracks 200m from the Austin station, in the Nova Iguacu neighbourhood.
"It was horrible," said passenger Robson Mendes. "Those travelling in the first carriage were seriously injured. I tried to help the victims, but many people trapped in the wreckage had panic attacks. I saw one body."
The passenger train's engineer was among the injured, while his colleague on the empty train came away unhurt, since the crash involved the last carriage, said the local railway managing company Supervia.
Some 60 firefighters were in action at the scene and the injured were taken to area hospitals.
Police threw a cordon around the crash site to prevent onlookers from hindering the rescue operation.
Rescuers said the had cleared the wreckage of victims within three hours of the crash.
Doctor Marcos de Souza, who directs Hospital da Posse in Nova Iguacu, said injuries in the train crash include "broken legs and arms, facial and abdominal abrasions".
He said psychologists were being assigned to help the victims' relatives.
The passenger train with some 750 people had left Rio's central train station at 18:10 GMT. The crash occurred one hour later and three stops away from the train's final destination in Japeri.
Railway workers union president Waldir Lemos told AFP he planned to sue Supervia for "maintenance deficiencies" on both train and tracks.
The railway company, in turn, announced a 10-day investigation into the crash and said it was ready to compensate all the crash victims.
- AFP
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