A commuter train crashed at a busy central station in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, killing 49 passengers and injuring more than 600 people, the deadliest in a series of train accidents in Argentina over the past year.
The train, which runs from the ring of urban areas that surround greater Buenos Aires, crashed at about 8:30 a.m. at its final stop at the Once Station, not far from downtown Buenos Aires.
The train was carrying more than 800 passengers and traveling at an estimated 16 miles per hour when it entered the station, slamming into the barrier of the platform, destroying the engine.
“It is a very serious accident,” Juan Pablo Schiavi, the national secretary of transportation, said in his initial assessment of the crash during a televised press conference outside the Once Station. Mr. Schiavi said brake failure was the suspected cause.
“The train hit the bumper,” Mr. Schiavi said, “causing one car to crumple into another.” He said one car pierced into another by nearly 20 feet.
The injured were taken to hospitals in the vicinity, Dr. Alberto Crescenti, head of the state emergency medical system, said on Argentine television on Wednesday. He said around midday that about 30 people were trapped in the wreckage.
Passengers told the local news media that the train, which is operated by the private company Trenes de Buenos Aires, was traveling faster than normal and had struggled to slow down when braking at stations ahead of Once Station.
Trenes de Buenos Aires said in a statement that the reasons for the crash had not been determined, though the company acknowledged that the train “wasn’t able to stop.”
Video footage of the crash taken by people at the scene showed people walking along the platform, with screams audible. People were pulling others out of the wreckage.
Last September, a commuter train on the same line crashed into a passenger bus and hit a second train at the Flores Station, killing 11 and injuring more than 200. The bus had crossed the tracks when the barrier was down. In February 2011, four people were killed in a collision of two trains.
【资讯快讯】根据新华网报道，阿根廷首都布宜诺斯艾利斯22日发生一起城铁列车和站台相撞出轨事故，目前已造成至少49人死亡，逾600人受伤。这是布宜诺斯艾利斯市近82年来最严重的铁路交通事故。
布宜诺斯艾利斯警方发言人费尔南多·索斯特雷说，当天萨缅托线上的一列城铁列车在进入终点第11区站时突然失去控制无法刹车撞上站台。事故已造成至少49人死亡，死者中包括一名儿童。事故还造成600多人受伤，其中部分伤者伤势严重。
中国驻阿根廷大使馆称，事件中有三名中国公民受轻伤，在接受治疗后已自行离开医院。阿根廷司法部门和城铁公司已对事故原因展开调查。由于设备老化、道口众多等原因，阿根廷的城铁线路经常发生交通事故。