BUENOS AIRES, Argentina?? A packed train slammed into the end of the line in Buenos Aires' busy Once station, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds of morning commuters in Argentina's worst train accident in decades.
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Federal Police Commissioner Nestor Rodriguez said Wednesday's dead included 48 adults and one child.
Officials said more than 600 people were injured out of more than 800 people who were reportedly on the train.
The death toll was Argentina's highest from a train accident since 1970, when 200 were killed.
Officials said the train was unable to stop and it slammed into the buffers inside the centrally located station.
"The train entered the Once station at 26 kilometers per hour (16 mph)... we suppose there was some flaw in the brakes," Transport Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi told state news agency Telam.
"The train was full and the impact was tremendous," a passenger named Ezequiel told local television, AFP reported.
Hundreds of thousands of people travel into Argentina's capital from the suburbs every day. The dilapidated and overcrowded rail services, run by private companies and heavily subsidized by the state, are plagued by accidents and delays.
"There are people still trapped, people alive," Schiavi said, according to BBC News.
One car penetrated nearly 20 feet into the next, Schiavi told reporters at the station.
PhotoBlog: Passengers carried to safety after Buenos Aires train crash
Most damaged was the first car, where passengers make space for bicycles. Survivors told the TeleNoticias channel that many people were injured in a jumble of metal and glass.
Windows explode
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.
Helicopters and more than a dozen ambulances took the most seriously injured to nearby hospitals.
"This machine left the shop yesterday and the brakes worked well. From what we know, it braked without problems at previous stations. At this point I don't want to speculate about the causes," Ruben Sobrero, union chief on the Sarmiento line, told Radio La Red.
The train operator has been hospitalized and the union hasn't been able to speak with him yet, Sobrero added.
In September of last year , nine people were killed and more than 200 injured in a crash in Buenos Aires involving two passenger trains and a bus.
PhotoBlog: Rescuers work to free survivors of September crash
In February of last year, four people died and 120 were injured when a long distance train struck a suburban passenger train, according to the AFP news agency.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46479386/ns/world_news-americas/
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