Argentina, Latin America: Week in Review

Buenos Aires Train Crash Kills 50; Argentina Declares Period of Mourning

February 23, 2012 By Staff

Today in Latin America

Top Story — Fifty  people died when a commuter train crashed into a barrier in a Buenos Aires train station on Wednesday morning, leading Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to declare a two-day mourning period. In addition to the fatalities, more than 600 rush hour passengers were injured in the collision at Once Station, which was captured on video and is currently being investigated by Argentine authorities. The crash is one of the worst in Argentina’s history, but the country has suffered other fatal train accidents in the last few months. In September, a bus ignored a barrier at a railroad crossing in Buenos Aires and collided with a train, killing eleven people and badly hurting about 200 others. In early November, a bus carrying students on a school trip was struck by a freight train in Argentina’s San Luís province, leaving a school official and seven children dead. Hours after Wednesday’s crash, Argentine Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi told reporters, “Never in my life had I seen anything like this.”

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