Strasbourg Rail Crash

Strasbourg Rail Crash.

Locomotive on new Paris-Strasbourg high-speed line left partly submerged in canal near German border after derailment

At least ten people have been killed and several more injured after a train derailed and caught fire near Strasbourg, according to reports. Another 32 people were injured, 12 of them seriously. French environment minister Ségolène Royal said at the scene that a further five were unaccounted for.

All those aboard the train were employees of national railway operator SNCF. The accident was caused by excessive speed, although it was too early to say why the train was travelling so quickly, the prefecture said. The train ended up near a bridge in the water of a roughly 130-ft wide canal. A police team of divers, helicopters and tens of rescue vehicles were sent to the scene in response to the crash.

Reuters, citing local police and national railway company TGV, reported that the train was travelling on the new Paris-Strasbourg high-speed line on Saturday at Eckwersheim, near the German border. Pictures from a Reuters photographer showed the locomotive partly submerged in a canal alongside the tracks with train parts lying broken and detached in a field. Medical units, including police divers, attended the scene.

TheGuardian.com

November 14, 2015

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