Several killed in Argentinian train crash

Buffalo Breeze (IANS) Wednesday 22nd February, 2012

Several people were killed and about 550 injured Wednesday in a commuter train crash at a station in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires, BBC reported.

Local reporters said they saw 12 bodies removed from the wreckage, with dozens of people still trapped.

The accident occurred as the train slammed into a barrier, located at the end of the platform at the Once station in the west of the city.

The commuter train hit the barrier at about 20 km per hour, destroying the front of the engine and crunching the carriages behind it, said transportation secretary J.P. Schiavi.

One of the carriages was driven nearly six metres into the next, he added.

"There are people still trapped, people alive," Schiavi said in the evening.

Survivors told the TeleNoticias channel that many people had been injured in a jumble of metal and glass.