Seven dead, 162 hurt in Argentina bus-train smash

BUENOS AIRES: An Argentine train slammed into a bus and was then struck by another train Tuesday in a huge rush-hour crash at a suburban station that killed at least seven and injured 162, police said.

Firefighters worked frantically to pull people out of the wreckage and rush the injured to hospitals, officials said.

"Doctors have confirmed the deaths of seven people, but there still isn't a definitive toll of the victims," said federal police spokesman Fernando Sostre.

Officials said as many as 30 of the injured were badly hurt, suggesting the death toll could climb substantially.

Argentina's transporation secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi said at least six of the seven fatalities were passengers who had been aboard the bus.

The crash occurred at 7:00 am (1000 GMT) as thousands of commuters were pouring into the Flores station, in southwestern Buenos Aires, on their way to work.

"A train entering Flores station hits a bus from the 92 Line, drags it and smashes it against the platform," said Gustavo Gago, a spokesman for the Buenos Aires train company.

"At that point, the train goes off the track, invading other tracks in its path and is struck laterally by a train that was entering Flores," from another direction, he said.

Fire chief Omar Bravo said at least 100 people were taken to area hospitals.

Firefighters "rescued people who were in the bus, in the train and on the platform," including a two-year-old toddler who was found under the platform, Bravo said, calling the collision, one of the worst and saddest accidents of recent years" in Argentina.

Rescuers succeeded after two hours in freeing two people whose legs were trapped in the wreckage, one of whom was a conductor on one of the trains.

Sostre said the injured were taken to four Buenos Aires hospitals, which had been placed on high alert.

Authorities were investigating reports that the bus driver failed to heed a train crossing signal and breached the lowered barriers meant to signal that it is dangerous to cross the tracks.

In February, a long distance train struck a suburban passenger train, leaving four dead and 120 injured.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011