SANTIAGO (AP) — Chile’s Transportation Minister said Tuesday that the accident between two trains, one of them being tested, that left two dead and nine injured last week was due to human error.
“Everything indicates that there was a major human failure that ended the lives of two people,” Minister Juan Carlos Muñoz said in statements to journalists, without giving details about possible perpetrators and adding that “it is a regrettable milestone that cannot be repeated.” to repeat.”
The accident occurred early Thursday morning in the commune of San Bernardo, in Santiago, when a train that was operating in tests with 10 crew members of technical personnel collided with a cargo train, which was transporting more than 1,000 tons of copper, and resulted in the death of the engineer and the latter’s assistant.
After the event, the driver of the train who was being tested and the track manager of the state railway company were arrested and placed under nighttime house arrest for possible negligence.
Muñoz pointed out that, despite the initial indications, “there is no need to rush” and we must wait for adequate reports on the causes of the accident, the worst of this type recorded in Chile in more than 20 years. “The measures that must be taken will be taken, but at the moment there are no measures that are in sight,” he said.
Regarding the strike of the workers of the state railway company (EFE), who held a strike on Tuesday due to the “lack of security to carry out their work”, the minister assured that his portfolio is “convinced” that the railway system “operates in a safe way”.
“This is something that affects many people. The contingency plan that has been implemented, of course, mitigates, but it fails to resolve the mobility needs of all those people in these cities and, therefore, it is key that the two parties sit down to talk as soon as possible and allow this matter to be resolved,” said Minister Muñoz about the transportation alternatives that the government offered in the face of the railway strike.
