By IANS/EFE,
Buenos Aires : The toll in the railway accident in Buenos Aires has risen to 50, Argentine officials said.
The figures were confirmed Thursday by Claudio Ayruj, the Buenos Aires government’s deputy human rights secretary, who said 12 of the victims still have not been identified.
The accident occurred when an eight-car train entered the Once station, one of the busiest in the capital, at 8.30 a.m. Wednesday at a speed of 26 kph and slammed into the barrier at the end of the platform.
The train, which was heading from the suburb of Moreno to Buenos Aires, was packed with some 1,500 morning commuters, the majority of them headed to work in the capital.
Railway union leaders said the train should not have been in operation because it was between 40 and 50 years old and had been idle for two months due to mechanical problems.
President Cristina Fernandez’s administration, which declared two days of national mourning and suspended plans for carnival festivities this weekend, said it will conduct a thorough investigation.
In a statement, the president expressed her “deep sorrow” over the tragedy and sent condolences to the family members of the victims.
Argentine Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi said a large-scale tragedy occurred because the first two cars, which bore the brunt of the impact, were filled with passengers.
Video cameras at Once station took footage of the crash, showing the second car crushing the first and trapping dozens of people inside.
“The train entered (the station) at the regular speed. That’s the part where the accident happens, the mystery or the responsibility. We don’t know what happened in the last 40 meters. The operator was at his post and the train did not stop,” Schiavi said at a press conference Wednesday.
“We were getting ready to get off because the train was slowing down and we felt a sudden jolt and the second car looked like it was going to envelope the first one. The people around me were mashed together,” a survivor who identified himself only as Marcelo said.
“Thank God that I can tell the story,” the survivor, who was riding in the first car, said.
“I was standing and everybody fell down, everybody was desperate, we all wanted to get out, but we couldn’t. It was like an earthquake,” a female commuter said.