Argentina: Buenos Aires Train Crash Kills 49, Injures 600
Marisa Krystian | Feb 22, 2012 1:59pm EST | 1min:25sec
More than 49 people have died and at least 550 people have been injured after a train crashed into a platform at Buenos Aires station in Argentina.
The train apparently had problems with its brakes and sped into the train station during morning rush hour, slamming into the buffers. The impact caused the second car to impale the first car, some say as far as 20 feet.
Argentine officials said the train, containing more than 800 passengers, was unable to stop and slammed into the Once train station at 20 kilometers per hour (12 miles per hour).
Rescue workers tried to pull people from between the crushed cars, but many were killed on impact.
Local reporters say they saw 12 bodies removed from the wreckage, with many more still inside.
Hundreds were put on stretchers and sent to local hospitals as witnesses told their harrowing stories.
"I was shocked. It was full of blood. There were injured people everywhere, bodies flying,"
At least 30 people are still believed to be trapped inside the first carriage.
The accident occurred during morning rush hour on the notoriously packed Sarmiento line, used by commuters coming into the city from the eastern suburbs.
Thousands of people travel into Argentina's capital city from the suburbs everyday on the accident-prone trains.
It is not yet known what exactly caused the crash.
