BEDFORD, (United Kingdom): UK accident investigators were on Saturday probing the cause of a train collision north of London which killed a driver and injured scores of passengers, nine critically.
The crash Friday afternoon near Bedford, a town around 90 kilometres (55 miles) north of the British capital, involved two London-bound trains on the same track, according to East Midlands Railway (EMR), which operates both services.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said it was “too early to speculate” on the cause of the crash while vowing “a thorough investigation … to ensure that lessons are learnt”. British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said in an update Saturday near the scene that more than 80 people had been treated for injuries in hospital and 28 remained there. “Nine are in a critical condition,” she added.
Police had earlier confirmed that the driver of one of the trains had died at the scene. D’Orsi said that “specialist investigators from British Transport Police are working with colleagues at the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) to gather the facts and determine what has happened”.
Buckingham Palace issued a statement saying King Charles was “greatly saddened” by the crash and sent “his thoughts and sympathies” to the dead man’s family and to those injured.
A passenger on one of the trains, Paul Cavin, told the BBC: “We had stopped and suddenly we were hit from behind pretty bad.”
“There were people injured on my carriage,” he said, adding he could see many wounded people walking away from the trains, some with “smashed up noses”.
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