49 dead, over 600 injured in Argentina train crash

Buenos Aires, Feb 23 (ANI): At least 49 people have been killed and over 600 injured a train crash in Argentina.

The train hit the end of the platform at Once Station in Buenos Aires during the morning rush hour.

Dozens of people were trapped for hours in the wreckage, but were successfully evacuated.

Argentina's Transportation Secretary JP Schiavi said that the mishap might have been caused by brake failure.

"The train had hit the barrier at about 12mph (20km/h), destroying the front of the engine and crunching the carriages behind it. One of the carriages was driven nearly 6m (20ft) into the next," the BBC quoted Schiavi, as saying.

The Argentina government has declared two days of mourning and called off planned carnival festivities in the country.

Emergency medical system director Alberto Crescenti said some passengers who survived had to have their limbs amputated. Many suffered from arrested breathing and trauma.

Wednesday's accident is said to be Argentina's worst train crash since February 1970, when a train smashed into another at full speed in suburban Buenos Aires, killing 200 people. (ANI)