Early this Thursday morning a railway tragedy occurred in the commune of San Bernardo. Two trains, one cargo and one passenger, collided during a test maneuver.
The prosecutor Pedro Aravena Arriagadafrom the Western Flagrancia Prosecutor’s Office, provided details about the ongoing investigation to determine responsibility for the accident.
He indicated that “An attempt is being made to determine the identity of the people who were in charge of controlling the roads.“. According to the pursuer, this is a crucial step to understand why the passenger train, although without active service and in tests, He was not warned of the approach of the freight train.
According to the prosecutor’s statements, the passenger convoy “It came on a test with two engineers and nine crew members assisting the engineers“. The speed at which the train was traveling has not yet been determined, since “the car’s GPS system was not working at the time of the accident.”said.
Velocity triangulation
The speed of the train is being investigated by triangulating the cell phones of the people on board. “They believe that it can develop a speed of 65 kilometers per hour, but it was around 58 kilometers per hour“added Aravena.
The passenger train was not warned of the approach of the freight train, which was traveling from south to north. Given the imminent impact, “The crew, all nine people, went to the last car and thus were able to save their lives.“Detailed the pursuer. Fortunately, these people were evacuated with serious injuries, but they are not life-threatening.
Death of machinists
Unfortunately, the dThe drivers of the freight train lost their lives. One of them was ejected from the train and his body was found nearby, while the other was trapped in the train and has not yet been rescued due to the need for specialized machinery for the operation.
By instruction of the Public Ministry, the SIAT, Labocar and OS9 of Carabineros, were in charge of the investigations.
Prosecutor Aravena stressed that it is crucial to determine why the passenger train was not warned of the approach of the freight train.
As a result of the accident, Nine people were injured, all in serious condition but not life-threatening.. They were transferred to the Mutual de Seguridad, where they are being treated by emergency teams.
Aravena concluded that “If the crew members of the passenger train had been warned about the freight train, they would have reduced their speed to avoid the accident.“.
EFE statement
Through its social networks, the EFE company specified that the fatal train accident between the test and cargo train occurred at 12:15 a.m. this Thursday.
