Two dead and nine injured in a train accident in Chile

SANTIAGO DE CHILE (AP) — At least two people died and nine others were injured in the collision of two trains in the Santiago Metropolitan Region of Chile, according to Chilean authorities.

The accident occurred in the early hours of Thursday when a train that was operating in tests with 10 crew members of technical personnel, without passengers, collided with a cargo train in the town of San Bernardo, reported the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Juan Carlos Muñoz. , to AP.

The two deceased were on the freight train, which belongs to the Fepasa company. At least nine other people, four of them Chinese and five Chilean nationals, were injured and taken to nearby hospitals.

Of the nine injured, three were discharged in the morning and six remained hospitalized, one of them serious – although stable – in the Intensive Care Unit, reported Dr. Rafael Borgoño from the Mutual de Seguridad, where they are hospitalized. Another of the injured was in the Intermediate Care Unit.

All of the injured had multiple injuries resulting from multiple trauma, the doctor stated.

One of the cars was suspended above the other train after the crash, the causes of which were still being investigated. “We have to identify what the causes are and take the corresponding measures,” said Muñoz.

The driver of the test train and the person in charge of track control, both officials of the Chilean State Railway Company (EFE), were detained for quasi-crime – when there is no intention – of homicide and serious injuries, reported the Western Prosecutor’s Office of Santiago. . A hearing is scheduled for Thursday in which a decision on his freedom will be decided before the court of San Bernardo, the commune where the accident occurred. One of the detainees was among the injured.

“Two trains were involved, one for cargo and the other for the EFE company, which was carrying out technical tests,” Captain Victoria Ramírez, from the Traffic Accident Investigation section of the Carabineros – the Chilean police – informed the media. — which indicated that the collection of evidence was being carried out.

“It was a very complex situation,” where one of the trains in test mode of the San Fernando service that is being planned to inaugurate soon “collided with a freight train that was also coming in a direction from south to north and the accident occurred.” Justin Siegel, manager of EFE, told the media, who was very cautious in pointing out the reasons for the crash.

He insisted on pointing out that “railway accidents are multi-causal” when asked by the press whether there were defects in the GPS of any of the machines.

Siegel said that the tests are carried out at night for safety reasons and that the company operates 500 services daily.

“The information has already been delivered” to the investigation teams, said Siegel, who showed his concern about what happened and expressed his solidarity with the families’ pain. “This also affects the EFE family,” he said.

The accident, very unusual in Chile, occurs at a time when the government is promoting the growth of trains in the country as a means of transportation, something that stopped with the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

“It is unprecedented in the railway operation of Chile, it has been more than 20 years or more since a collision of this magnitude has not occurred and without a doubt it challenges us to be able to aspire to this growth project” in a serious way and to take the lessons, said the manager. of the State Railway Company.

The eight-car freight train was carrying 1,346 tons of copper, as well as passengers, while the other train carried 10 workers, according to the railway company, who were participating in tests to improve speed between routes.

The train service from the Santiago Central Station was suspended after the accident on Thursday, a holiday in the country, while work began to remove the remains of the accident, which affected route 5 South, one of the busiest in the country. country. It was estimated that the removal tasks will take more than 9 hours.