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Barcelona Train Crash Leaves 50 Injured

Barcelona Train Crash Leaves 50 Injured

The driver of the crashed train is said to be in a state of shock

Claire Reid

Claire Reid

A commuter train that allegedly failed to break as it entered Barcelona's França station has crashed into a buffer, injuring at least 54 people.

Twenty of the injured, including the driver, were taken to hospital, while paramedics got to work treating others on-site at the platform. Many of the passengers had been standing up waiting to exit the train when the crash took place, Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia reported.

The train was coming into the Catalan capital from the village of Sant Vicenç de Calders in Tarragona.

The driver of the crashed train is said to be in a state of shock.

The toll of those injured has fluctuated over the course of the morning, but officials claim that the latest number is definitive.

Barcelona train
Barcelona train

"It felt like an earthquake but we were lucky," said one passenger. Credit: PA

One passenger told Spanish newspaper El País: "It felt like an earthquake but we were lucky."

Catalan minister for territory and sustainability, Josep Rull, said he had spoken to the driver, who told him that things would have been far worse had the train not been coming into the station at an already reduced speed.

One social media user tweeted from the scene of the crash, showing the train's front carriage crumpled against a metal barrier.

He wrote: "My train crashed when I arrived at the station in Franca today."

Just a few months back in May, three people were killed and a further 10 injured when an intercity passenger train derailed and collided with a house in Adendro, Greece.

The engine and one carriage collided with the house when the train was derailed. Two residents of the house jumped from the balcony as they saw what was about to happen.

Barcelona train
Barcelona train

Scenes in Barcelona this morning. Credit: PA

The train, carrying 70 passengers and five crew, was heading from Greek capital Athens to the second-biggest city of Thessaloniki when it derailed in the town of Adendro, 23 miles from its destination.

"Death came calling," the Athens News Agency quoted Yorgos Mylonas, a local resident, as saying. "I heard a strange noise and then I saw the train approaching and ramming into my neighbour's house."

An investigation into the incident revealed excessive speed as the cause of the derailment. The train was travelling at 144.3 kilometres per hour (89.7mph) where the speed limit was 60 kilometres per hour (37mph).

Sources: BBC News, El País, Athens News Agency

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Crash, Barcelona, Train, Spain