The Argentine government has declared a two-day national mourning for the deadly train crash that killed 49 people and injured over 600 on Wednesday morning.A packed commuter train crashed into station buffers at around 8:30 a.m. local time (1130 GMT). Powerful collision force thrust the train’s second carriage into the first one, trapping dozens of people inside the wreck. Injured passengers, many of them trapped for hours in the train, were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. The train’s conductor was seriously wounded and put in the intensive care unit. “We didn’t see anything. There was just a huge sound, like an explosion. Everyone was running. I have a broken bone in my hand. My neck and feet were also injured,” a victim at Durand Hospital told Xinhua.The police have confirmed that at least 49 people, including a child, were killed and more than 600 people injured. President Cristina Fernandez has declared a two-day national mourning, starting Thursday, for victims of the nation’s worst railway accident in three decades.The tragedy occurred during morning rush hour at a rail line linking the capital city and its western suburbs, as the train failed to make a stop at Once Station. Argentina’s Transport Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi rushed to the scene and described the accident as “terrible.” Schiavi said the train entered the station at a speed of 20 kph and slammed into a retaining wall at the end of the tracks. Rescue work ended at noontime as relatives and friends continued to wait anxiously to find their loved ones. The injured were sent to 12 hospitals across the city for treatment.While investigations continued, many have pointed to dysfunctional brakes as the cause of the crash, with some accusing the company running the Sarmiento rail line of lax oversight of trains’ maintenance. The railway line connects the city center of Buenoes Aires to a densely populated western suburb some 70 km away.
