49killed, hundreds injured as train slams into station in Argentina

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Argentina train slams into station,kills 49

Buenos Aires: A packed train slammed into the end of the line in Buenos Aires' busy Once station on Wednesday, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds of morning commuters in Argentina's worst train accident in decades.

Federal Police Commissioner Nestor Rodriguez says the dead include 48 adults and one child.

That makes it Argentina's worst train accident since Feb. 1, 1970, when 200 a train smashed into another at full speed in suburban Buenos Aires, killing 200 people.

At least 550 people were injured, and emergency workers were slowly extracting dozens of people who were trapped inside the first car, said Alberto Crescenti, the city's emergency medical director. Rescuers carved open the roof and set up a pulley system to ease them out one by one.

The commuter train came in too fast and hit the barrier at the end of the platform at about 26 kph, smashing the front of the engine and crunching the leading cars behind it; one car penetrated nearly 20 feet (six meters) into the next, Argentina's transportation secretary, JP Schiavi told reporters at the station.

The conductors' union chief, Omar Maturano, told Radio 10 that the train might have come in as fast as 30 kph.

Most damaged was the first car, where passengers make space for bicycles. Survivors told the Tele Noticias channel that many people were injured in a jumble of metal and glass.

Passengers said windows exploded as the tops of train cars separated from their floors. The trains are usually packed with people standing between the seats, and many were thrown into each other and to the floor by the force of the hard stop

(Agencies)

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