Asia-Pacific

Train collision injures 50 in Argentine capital

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-01-01 17:17

Rescuers transit an injured people at the train crash site in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, Dec 31, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

BUENOS AIRES - The number of people injured in a train collision in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires has risen to 50, officials said Friday.

The accident occurred in the Palermo neighborhood, north of Buenos Aires. Gustavo Gago, a spokesperson for the Buenos Aires Train (TBA) company, said the accident took place at 11:30 am local time (1430 GMT) Friday, when two trains collided on the Mitre line, operated by the TBA company.

Gago said that one of the trains was waiting for authorization in Empalme Maldonado to go on to the Jose Leon Suarez station, north east of Buenos Aires, when the other train that was going north crashed into it.

"At least 50 people were injured," said the director of Emergency Medical Assistance Service (SAME), Alberto Crescenti.

He said that "two of the patients, a pregnant woman and a man, were transferred by helicopter to Santojanni Hospital," due to their serious condition.

The accident took place on a bridge between the train stations Retiro and Tres de Febrero, near the 3 de Febrero Park, one of the main "green" corridors of the Argentine capital.

Gago said that the site of the crash has an "old system" of tracks, and said that the company, together with the Secretary of Transportation of the Nation, will investigate if the event took place due to "a failure in the system or human error."

Six groups of firefighters from the Argentine Federal Police participated in the rescue operation.