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One dead, 49 hurt as landslide derails train in Spain
BARCELONA, Nov 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – One person was killed on Tuesday and
49 others were injured, five seriously, when a train derailed near Barcelona
due to a landslide caused by heavy rains, emergency services and Spain’s rail
operator said.
Two carriages of a convoy of six came off the tracks at 6:15 am (0515
GMT) near the town of Vacarisses, 35 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of
Barcelona, emergency services said on Twitter.
Of the 133 people on board, 44 were lightly injured, five were seriously
injured and one person died, it said.
The train “braked hard”, one of the passengers, Mari Carmen, told
Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia.
“The lights went out and there was a lot of confusion. We saw rocks on
the track. I was frightened but emergency services arrived very quickly.”
Images broadcast on Spanish television showed rescue workers evacuating
passengers. Rocks were piled up on the side of one carriage.
The train, which was travelling between Manresa and Barcelona, derailed
due to a landslide following several days of heavy rain, rail operator Adif
said in a statement.
The train’s driver saw the landslide and slammed the emergency breaks
but was unable to prevent the crash, Catalan newspaper El Periodico reported.
The area was fitted with netting to hold back rocks “but it did not
resist the landslide,” Transport Minister Jose Luis Abalos told news radio
Cadena Ser. He said his ministry would investigate the cause of the accident.
Landslides had already caused trains to derail in the same area in 2009
and 2011, according to local press reports.
No one was injured in the derailment in 2009 but in 2011 the 11 people
suffered mild injuries.
In 2013, 79 people died when a train travelling from Madrid to the
northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela came off the tracks. It was
Spain’s worst train wreck in decades.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1754 hrs