At Least 41 Killed In Spain Train Accident

[RACINCPIX]

At Least 41 Killed in Spain Train Accident
Jul 3, 9:13 PM (ET)
By CIARAN GILES
My Way News

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) - A subway train accelerated, shuddered and flipped off the tracks Monday in the Mediterranean port of Valencia, killing at least 41 passengers and injuring 47 in one of Spain's worst rail accidents, officials and witnesses said.

Regional authorities and a witness said the train was going too fast and one of its wheels broke into pieces, derailing the first car, which overturned. Victims were strewn in the tunnel. Officials did not say if the second car derailed.

Rescue workers hustled bloodied, sooty survivors from the tunnel. Anguished relatives cried out in grief and drew each other close as they waited outside the local morgue. The accident brought back memories of the 2004 terrorist attack on Madrid commuter trains that killed 191 people.

Authorities ruled out terrorism but have not determined the cause of the crash.

Justice Ministry official Rosa Sanchez told The Associated Press that at least 41 people were killed and all but eight had been identified. She said that the driver was among those killed. Officials earlier said mistakenly that the driver was not seriously hurt.
>SNIP<
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060704/D8IKS1OG0.html (COMPLETE ARTICLE)

I don't know if this is the proper site for news of this nature, and I apologize if it's not.
In any case, my heart goes out to the victims of theis horrible accident, their families, and to the people of Spain.
All are in my prayers.
:cry:

[exciter]

yes, it's a horrible accident, we all are so impressed about it in Spain

[hkth]

News from the BBC:
Spain mourns train crash victims (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5143738.stm)

--Sorry for the accident. :(

[hkskyline]

I wonder how is it possible that a wheel can break like that. How fast was the train going?

[hkskyline]

Valencia metro crash highlights safety flaws on city's oldest line

VALENCIA, Spain, July 5, 2006 (AFP) - Two days after Valencia's fatal underground train accident, normal service resumed but serious questions were being asked on Wednesday about the ageing safety apparatus on the Spanish city's oldest metro line.

At the moment of the accident on Monday, in which 41 people died, the black box recorder showed the train was travelling "too fast", at 80 kilometres an hour (50 miles an hour) on a curve on which there is a speed limit of 40 kilometres an hour.

Valencia's Line One is equipped with a system that with the help of sensors next to the rails alerts the driver if the train exceeds the permitted speed, but in the section where the crash happened there were no such sensors.

On Tuesday Valencia railway trade union spokesman Jose Aroca said that the driver, who died in the accident, must have experienced "a sort of loss of consciousness, of fainting".

The Valencia Regional Health Minister Rafael Blascosaid said there was "no piece of data allowing us to speculate on a cause" of a possible blackout of the driver. An autopsy found no alcohol or drugs in the driver's blood, he said.

The city's other three metro lines are also equipped with a more modern and more expensive system "which would have prevented the accident", said Pedro Diaz Caballero of the railway union SF.

This system "works all along the line and automatically stops the train when the driver exceeds a certain speed by a single kilometre (mile) per hour," Caballero told newspaper El Pais.

The paper also quoted a train driver with 25 years' experience who blamed the section of track where the crash happened: "Going round a corner, the train shakes and vibrates even if you're going at 40 kilometers per hour."

The tunnel has not been renovated, the rails are "worn all along the tunnel" and there are still wooden sleepers in place, the driver added.

Fernando Soto, secretary general of the railway union, said on Tuesday evening that the works council and management were looking into implementing a temporary alert system while more modern equipment is put in place.

In the meantime, Line One had resumed normal operations, as a sign indicated at Jesus station where Monday's accident took place.

"I'm taking (the train) because I work in town. But I have goose pimples," 49-year-old cleaner Teresa Marquez said.

"I'm not scared and anyway I don't have a choice," said 27-year-old David Mateo. "On Monday I took the train at midday and the accident happened at one o'clock. That can happen no matter where, on the train or on a plane."

Line One carries 1.5 million passengers every year, including a large number of students currently on holiday.

Outside the station, two massive cranes used to remove the mangled carriages have been dismantled and normal traffic has resumed.

Meanwhile a Valencia Roman Catholic Church official said that Pope Benedict XVI would pray at the scene of the accident on Saturday, stopping off there on his way from the airport when he visits the city for a Catholic festival, the World Family Meeting.

Passers-by at the site of the accident continued to lay flowers, religious images and messages of condolence amid rows of candles.