Three killed, 80 injured, in Israel train derailment
A train carrying hundreds of passengers slammed into a pick-up truck in central Israel today, causing a locomotive and three carriages to overturn, killing three people and injuring 80.
Fifty-six people were admitted to hospital, 10 in serious condition, said rescue service spokesman Yeruham Mendola.
The three people who were killed were among seven who had been trapped inside the overturned carriages.
At 3.30pm (1.30pm), one passenger remained pinned inside a carriage, and was in contact with rescue workers, Mendola said.
About 150 rescue personnel were called in to free the trapped passengers from the seven-carriage train. Some scaled ladders to enter carriages through their windows. A side and roof of one carriage were pried open to allow access and oxygen to flow in.
Rescue workers clambered into the derailed carriages with oxygen tanks and water, and boards with neck braces were at the ready to take the freed passengers to waiting ambulances.
A bulldozer razed trees and bushes close to the crash site to allow rescue vehicles closer.
Zachi Dendin, a medic who entered one of the tipped cars, said the inside was so badly twisted that rescue workers weren’t able to manoeuvre to administer extensive treatment.
Police said the truck had stopped at a closed train crossing, but was pushed onto the tracks by another vehicle that ploughed into it from behind.
The driver escaped before the train struck, and tried to alert Israel Railways to the vehicle on the tracks, but wasn’t able to avert the train crash, media reported.
The train, travelling at high speed, crashed to a stop several hundred yards from the crossing after slamming into the side of a small hill covered with eucalyptus trees.
A witness in a nearby passenger carriage, who identified herself only as Miri, told Israel Radio that “the train just continued ploughing ahead with the truck, and the truck was crushed”.
Twisted metal, downed trees and tipped train cars were scattered on and alongside the tracks. One of the derailed carriages was wedged between the locomotive and another passenger carriage. Another lay diagonally across the tracks.
The crushed pickup truck stood several yards away from the tracks, and several seats were thrown from the damaged train carriages.
Michah Sher, a spokesman for Israel Railways, said 200 passengers were on the train.
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